01/06/05 Johanns, b.s.e., and wolves

01/06/05 Johanns, b.s.e., and wolves

As the U.S. Senate today conducts confirmation hearings for U.S.D.A. Secretary nominee Mike Johanns, the sense given off by several Senators is that the Nebraska Governor should be confirmed without any controversy. However, Johanns could become an unintentional player in efforts by Japan to slow down the reopening of its border to U.S. beef. A group of Washington D.C. political insiders say it appears the Japanese government is using the transition between U.S. Ag Secretaries to slow progress in U.S. resumption of beef sales to Japan. And speaking of beef issues, Japan so far has been relatively quiet about Canada's latest case of b.s.e. But other Asian nations are being more vocal about that particular matter. Both South Korea and Taiwan say this latest discovery will delay lifting their bans on North American beef imports. And yes, when those nations say "North American beef imports", they mean both Canada and the U.S. Idaho government officials are applauding changes in federal wolf management rules that will give that state greater control over its reintroduced wolf populations. U.S. Interior Secretary Ann Veneman made the announcement earlier this week. Under the new rules, landowners can kill wolves without prior written authority if the animals are harassing livestock or domestic pets. That means wolves that are chasing livestock, as opposed to the old rule, which required visual evidence of a wolf having its teeth in livestock before it could be killed. The measure also broadens landowners' and governments' ability to kill wolves that could or have harmed big game herds. Now with today's "Food Forethought", here's Susan Allen. ALLEN: The USDA is worried American youth are too fat, apparently they have resolved to put their money where mouths are, young mouths. The United States Department of Agriculture is testing a new program in eight states in hopes that young people will learn to people select fruits and vegetables as snacks options. Washington State was selected to be one of the pilot states and the program is currently being run through the office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Students at selected schools receive free fruits and vegetables courtesy of our government. Washington is one of eight states to participate in the $770,000 program & now tell me who picks that number why not round up to $800,000? The program t buys produce at the cost of about $79.00 per child per year. While this obviously falls short of helping the majority of children in America consumer more fresh produce, you have to start somewhere and if it succeeds, buying surplus fruits and vegetables could be a win- win for US farmers as well. I'm Susan Allen with Food Forethought
Previous Report01/05/05 Tsunami and food; El Nino or not
Next Report01/11/05 Reaching a decision; Voicing opinion