Snowpack & RMA Closing Date
Snowpack & RMA Closing Date plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.
Pacific Northwest nursery growers should be advised that the Risk Management’s sales closing date for 2014 Nursery Multi-Peril Crop Insurance (MPCI) coverage is May 1. The insurance provides protection for wholesale nurseries producing and marketing nursery plants grown in standard nursery containers or in the field.
Here in the Northwest we have seen pretty good snowpack this winter and water should be plentiful but that is not necessarily the case in all parts of the west. California’s snowpack is one again very low and meteorologist Brad Rippey talks about it.
RIPPEY: As we head into the spring at this point early April, we’re seeing almost two-thirds of the western United States considered to be in drought; 63%. Beyond that we’ve already got low reservoir levels and low snowpack so again we do have a lot of concerns about summer water supply all the way from California to the Central and Southern Rockies.
Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.
For several years USDA scientist Dean Anderson has been working on a “Directional Virtual Fencing System” that would send electronic cues to a cow’s ear so that it will move in a desired direction. This could be anything from the familiar “gathering songs” sung by cowboys during traditional round-ups, to sirens designed to motivate cows to move in a specific direction without inflicting physical pain. Because the vast open spaces on many ranches makes it challenging to relocate cattle, and because ranchers are serious about protecting and preserving the landscape, virtual fencing to keep livestock from straying or over grazing could one day actually help make ranching more sustainable, but there is still a lot of tweaking that needs to be done to make virtual fencing feasible for ranchers. As it stands now, buying a device for each animal, as well as the computer and software needed to manage them could be quite costly for the average rancher. Also, the fear of a technical glitch, which happens with even the most reliable of systems, along with the very real possibility of “virtual rustling”, would give most ranchers pause about trusting their “bread and butter” to virtual fencing.
Thanks Lacy. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
