Agribusiness Update for Friday 8/19/13

This is the Agribusiness Update...I’m Greg Martin...

On Friday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell joined other Washington agriculture leaders in a call for bipartisan action on the Farm Bill. Cantwell detailed the potential impact the Farm Bill’s expiration could have on Southwest Washington farmers and the state’s agriculture exports. The Farm Bill’s current extension expires on September 30.

The Organic Consumers Association has launched a petition for the FDA to ban producers of genetically modified foods from being able to label their products as natural. The Association says the FDA has for far too long dodged its responsibility to define “natural” as it applies to food products. They say recent class action lawsuits make it clear consumers are tired of being misled by food manufacturers.

The EPA is taking action to protect bees from pesticide exposure and has developed new pesticide labels that prohibit the use of some neonicotinoid pesticide products where bees are present. The new labels will include a bee advisory box and icon with information on routes of exposure and spray drift precautions.

That’s today’s Agribusiness Update from the Ag Information Network.