Slow Signup & Beef Recall plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Of the 1.3-million producers currently in the conventional farm payment program - USDA Farm and Foreign Ag Services Under Secretary Jim Miller says just 946 have elected to sign up for the Average Crop Revenue Election - or ACRE - program. He told members of the House Ag Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Thursday that there are a couple of possible reasons for the slow pace of sign-up.

MILLER: A lack of understanding among farmers about what the ACRE program really means and secondly I do think that the late spring season in many parts of the country, particularly in big parts of the corn belt have delayed the ability of corn producers to actually push the pencil on this program and make those decisions.

And adding to the importance of the decision - it’s one the producer has to stick with for four years.

People in Oregon may have some questionable beef. JBS Swift Beef Co. of Greeley has recalled about 41,000 pounds of its beef products because of possible E. coli contamination. A spokesman said the recall is voluntary and no illnesses have been reported. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the products were produced on April 21-22 and were shipped to distributors and retailers 13 states including Oregon.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

Regarding the recent spectacle that’s come to light about the Nestle Corporation refusing to provide pest control records, complaint logs or production records to the FDA after an e-coli outbreak was traced back to their prepackaged cookie dough; one has to scratch their head and wonder, “what’s wrong with this picture”? Apparently, quite a lot. Nestle reports that they were merely doing what was within their rights under the law and standards within the food industry. The FDA states that “companies have the right to make conditions on what they will or will not permit during an inspection.” What? Do you suppose that would fly with the IRS, “these are the records you can and can’t look at during my audit”? How utterly absurd that our nation’s Food and Drug Administration, the agency that is responsible for regulating and supervising the safety of America’s food and protecting public health is in essence impotent when it comes to having the power needed to prevent a public health tragedy before it actually happens.

Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.