04/17/07 Food Prices & Greenhouse Gas

Retail foods prices and Greenhouse Gas plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. You may have been seeing prices at your local grocer doing the slow creep as of late and it's is expected to continue. According to Ephriam Leibtag, USDA food price economist, those prices will begin to increase faster of the next few years. LEIBTAG: So far this year we've seen some increases due tot higher corn prices however over the last few weeks corn prices have been down quite a bit. Longer term we will see slightly higher than average food prices for the new 2 years or so. Leibtag thinks rising energy prices will have more of an effect on retail food prices in the coming years. LEIBTAG: With higher energy prices seeming to be here for good, certainly the costs of production have been increasing for retailer and food manufacturers. A new study compiled by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group - greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 18-percent nationally since 1990. That's based on an analysis of Department of Energy data on carbon emissions in 48 states. A number of states have introduced legislations or created coalitions to deal with the increases. The report comes as scientists are sounding the alarms about global warming - and follows on the heels of a report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that points to the dire effects of unchecked carbon emissions and resulting global warming. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. Drive through any farming community and it is practically a given you will see a border collie in the back of a pick-up truck, tool box surfing. Farm dogs simply love engaging in the sights smells and activity of viewing life from the bed of a truck. But if a democratic legislator from Colorado had her way, dogs in trucks would be as endangered as pygmy rabbits. It is bound to happen, with more and more city folk fleeing the exurbs they are confronted with a rural way of life they can't understand or tolerate. So the initial knee-jerk reaction of the transplants is to attempt to change things to fit their urban mindset. Problem is some of theses things have been in place for generations, like dogs in the back of trucks and just aren't going away anywhere easily. Her bill that would have made it dog abuse to have a dog in the back of a rig never saw the light of day but it sure riled up enough Coloradoans that many are now sporting the bumper sticker, Truck beds, the last Bastion of Freedom. Dogs like Trucks! Don't mess with that! Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.