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News
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Director Coba looks ahead to Oregon agriculture 2012
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1/4/2012
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Article Content Suggested lead
Food safety and the environment are expected to be important issues for Oregon agriculture in 2012, according to the state's ag director:
Entire audio file
Audio 01
Oregon Department of Agriculture Director Katy Coba says ag production and marketing may be top of mind in the new year, but there are other issues vitally important:
COBA: "Food safety is going to continue to be a huge topic for us at ODA, for the industry, and how we move forward to hopefully and successfully implement the Food Safety Modernization Act." :12
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Audio 02
Coba says the act is the most sweeping food safety legislation in decades, but wonders if it can be adequately funded at this time. There is also a key environmental issue for the new year:
COBA: "There's just a lot of interest in water quality right now. Everyone wants to make sure that everyone is carrying their fair share. We in agriculture are determined to show that we are indeed doing that." :10
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Director Coba is hoping ODA can help document success in water quality improvement due to the efforts of farmers and ranchers. Two other important issues of note- she says funding research and development is critical to meeting future world food demands. And she isn't confident that a new Farm Bill will be passed in 2012, especially it being an election year. In Salem, I'm Bruce Pokarney.
Additional audio: Audio 03
COBA says despite budget challenges, it will continue to be very important to find funding for agricultural research and development:
"We can't feed a projected world population by the year 2040 with our current technology and our current ability to produce food. The pressure is on, we've just got to keep paying attention to that issue, knowing that the need for research and development is only going to intensify." :17
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Additional audio: Audio 04
COBA is not confident that Congress will be able to pass a new Farm Bill this year:
"We may find come September that they are just going to have to extend the current Farm Bill and try to deal with it after the election. I think it's going to be very difficult to get a Farm Bill completed in 2012." :11
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Full story
http://oregon.gov/ODA/news/120104katy.shtml
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