earlier this week the u.s.d.a. would mandate a 15-cent tax entrees to help pay for promoting the industry. it would go to a board like a check off program that we see in dairy, pork and beef. the 15-cent tax was only for the big guys, producers of trees that cell or import more than 500 a year. now after outside criticism and despite grower support the u.s.d.a. said it'll delay the tax and revisit the action later. that's it for news. mike hoffman now with the forecast. >> weather on united states farm report is brought to you by nation wide agro business, the number one farm insurance in the united states. >> i will show a split jet stream because we have southern energy coming in and this time of year that starts to happen but we have a trough in the southwest. that will spread much needed rain, at least it'll help a little bit. we start to -- now the northern jet stream is mainly going to be zonal that would tend to bottle up the really cold air over canada. the storm system, the big one in alaska last week conce

and so health advocates were certainly behind the u.s.d.a. on doing this. but on the other side were some of the trade groups like the national potato council, the american frozen food institute, and lawmakers from various farm states who said the rules went too far by limits things like potatoes, which are rich in potassium and other vitamins and nutrients, and that the rules on tomato paste made no sense because if you up the amount t to-- you would basically have a pizza that you couldn't eat because it would just be dripping with tomato paste. >> woodruff: too much tomato paste, wouldn't taste like letta anymore. >> exactly. >> woodruff: did the agriculture have a counter? >> they did. they had the institute of medicine look at this and come up with these recommendations. they wanted to have a scientific basis for doing this. and so they presented this to congress. they put the rules out for comment, and they got thousands of comments back and forth. and so they were saying this is scientifically based. this is not something we're coming with op the top

this all started when the u.s.d.a. proposed new standards to fight obesity. some say the government has no business telling people what to eat. food processerred also lobbied against it. this despite calls everybody from the military to doctors groups for a change in how children eat fun foods or not. this is an issue of pricing cost. it's not about nutrition. >> reporter: nadine teaches a course in food politics. she said the politics of food help determine choice that consumers make and school meal programs a captive audience. >> a lot of politics and people aren't aware it we should all be more knowledgeable about what is going on and what is in the food supply. >> reporter: for many the thought that pays and fries servings of vegetable social security ridiculous. >> they had a pretzel and a yogurt. that was considered a meal. >> reporter: others wonder what congress is thinking. >> it has tomato in it, on it, but, it wouldn't be considered a vegetable. >> not for kids, kids have more -- more vegetables, more good stuff. not the pizza and fries. >> parent i

another man worked for the u.s.d.a., u.s.d.a.ncy and even boasted of showing off some of his certificates he obtained from the u.s.d.a. or from training certifications to the other suspects. and one of the men was a contractor for the c.d.c. in atlanta. >> warner: did they do more than talk? did they... what did they do, supposedly, in furtherance of this plot? actually do. >> yeah. federal prosecutors said that they went beyond just idle talk, that this is no laughing matter. they say two of the men were actually able to deduce the formula to make ricin out of these castor beans and extract the ricin from the castor beans and the confidential informant somehow got their hands on whatever they made and was able to test it. the georgia officials were able to test it, it was ricin. it was found to be traces of ricin. so they actually had some sort of ricin, we're not sure if they were going to use it, what they were going to do with it but they did have in their position ricin. mr. thomas, actually, went down with the confidential

phrase courtesy of the republican party kids eat your pizza and french fries earlier this year the u.s.d.a. set of guidelines to make school lunches healthier for children but this week house republicans and build a spending bill so blow up those new health guidelines under the new republican plan tomato sauce and pizza will still be considered about shabelle as well french fries yes right now tomato sauce in fries are considered vegetables under current guidelines and republicans want to keep it that way since you know new regulations are so burdensome. that means schools can serve pizza and french fries every day and meet the basic nutritional requirements for school lunches somewhere herman cain is rejoicing unclear when someone will break the news to republican leadership that tomatoes are actually fruits or tell them the story about when ronald reagan tried to do something similar in one thousand nine hundred one and classify trip as a vegetable in failed thanks to a public outcry. but republicans taking a stand for pizza is harmless compared to what they will be voting on later this