Urging Cuban Trade & Taking the Day Off

Urging Cuban Trade & Taking the Day Off plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. Trade with Cuba is really in the hot seat lately as two ag leaders are urging the President to act. Kansas Congressman Jerry Moran and House Ag Chair Collin Peterson are sending a letter to President Obama today urging the President to take administrative action to reopen ag trade to Cuba - as most of the ag provisions of their Cuba legislation could be addressed administratively MORAN: To change the rules and regulations, send us back to the days in which we had the normal definition of cash up front. That letters of credit from foreign banks would no longer be required, the technical kinds of things that would allow trade representatives and marketers and buyers to travel between Cuba and the United States to make the sales. All that can be done by this administration at the Treasure Department if the President would want it to happen. Not sure how you feel about Columbus Day, personally it was just another Monday for me without mail delivery of course but in Washington State a lot of state employees enjoyed the day off but without pay as the state continues to struggle with balancing a budget. Tens of thousands of Washington state employees at dozens of agencies were part of the fourth of 10 furlough days the state has scheduled to cut spending. The other furlough days will be Dec. 27, Jan. 28, Feb. 22, March 11, April 22 and June 10. Public health and safety workers are exempt. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. So how did you celebrate 10/ 10/10? If you were like me perhaps 10/10/10 was spent like any other normal day, but if you happen to be one of the highly enlightened people who realized that this is a once in a lifetime event you perhaps spent the day in a far more productive manner. This just happened to be the case for several people who participated in environmental work parties. These parties were part of a worldwide day dedicated to activities reflecting lifestyle choices that center around preserving our world for the next generation. Urban gardeners, farmers, and local food activists joined together to educate and inform the general public as to ways in which each of us can do just that, whether that's supporting local farmers by buying produce from farmers' markets, planting backyard gardens, seed trading, planting trees, composting or all of the afore mentioned. The more than six thousand world wide environmental parties definitely left participants with the feeling that they could indeed make a difference; that like each drop of water that makes up the oceans, each one of us is important in making positive changes that will lead to a healthy and sustainable planet. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.