Wildfires Continue & GMO Labeling Heats Up

Wildfires Continue & GMO Labeling Heats Up

Wildfires Continue & GMO Labeling Heats Up. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

Firefighters have barely had a break over the holiday weekend as numerous wildfires continue to burn across the northwest. Two dozen large fires have been burning through Oregon, Washington and into Idaho with only a handful of those being contained. A large fire is defined as any wildland fire in timber 100 acres or greater and 300 acres or greater in grasslands/rangelands. The weekends fireworks were responsible for a number of blazes. The northwest is even having to contend with smoke from fires in Canada.

The battle over the labeling of genetically engineered foods is once again heating up. Vermont, Connecticut and Maine have passed mandatory labeling laws for genetically modified food with a dozen or more considering it. Daren Coppock of the Agricultural Retailers Association says we need to convey to the public that genetically modified crops can make farming more sustainable for the farm and the environment.

COPPOCK: It's a more precise breeding technology. You don't drag nearly as much baggage along with you as some of the other older breeding technologies that are used. It allows you to be more precise in the pests that you are controlling. It allow you to make more efficient use of inputs, water is going to be a really important one in that area so there's so many things it can bring to the table and make our system more efficient, more accountable, more effective, better at controlling pests, etc.

That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.

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