02/15/07 Emergency loans; Japan & chipping spuds

Washington Ag February 15, 2007 The Washington State Office of the Farm Service Agency is making emergency loans available to farmers in 10 counties where winter storms between December 14th of 2006 and January 15th of 2007 caused significant damage to farm structures, irrigation equipment and livestock facilities. The emergency loans are only for repair or replacement of physical losses from those storms but that includes damage to perennial crops such as tree damage in an orchard. The eligible counties include Chelan, Douglas, Franklin, Grant, Grays Harbor, Lewis, Pacific and Thurston and counties contiguous to them. Interested producers should contact their local FSA office. Japan is reopening its market to U.S. chipping potatoes. The discovery of potato cyst nematode in Idaho last year prompted Japan to suspend all U.S. fresh potato imports including those from Washington. With the exception of Idaho, other states can resume shipments if potato fields are tested and certified to be free of the cyst nematode. Meanwhile, Eoin Davis of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, says they plan to eradicate the pest in Idaho. Davis: "Because no place that we know of that has ever adopted a management strategy has ever seen really great success. It just make sense to try and kill it as few as there are." I'm Bob Hoff.