Washington, March 10 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Attorney General
Eric Holder will participate in the first joint USDA/Justice Department workshop on
agriculture competition issues Friday in Ankeny, Iowa. Attorney General Holder and
Secretary Vilsack will deliver opening remarks for the workshop at 9:30 A.M. CST and
participate in a roundtable discussion at 9:45 A.M. CST. Following the roundtable
discussion, Vilsack and Holder will hold a press conference at 11:00 A.M. CST.
This initial all-day workshop to gather public input is part of a planned series of
workshops across the country designed “to explore competition and regulatory issues in the agriculture industry.” The workshop will be held at the FFA Enrichment Center at Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) in Ankeny.
The workshops, announced by Holder and Vilsack last August, are the first joint
USDA/Justice Department workshops ever to be held to discuss competition and
regulatory issues in the agriculture industry. The goals of the workshops are “to promote dialogue among interested parties and foster learning with respect to the appropriate legal and economic analyses of these issues, as well as to listen to and learn from parties with experience in the agriculture sector.” Attendance at the workshops is free and open to the public. The general public and media interested in attending the initial workshop should register at https://go.dmacc.edu/ffa/agworkshop
Holder, Vilsack and Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Antitrust
Division Christine Varney will participate in the workshop and will be joined by Iowa Lt. Gov. Patty Judge, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey. They will participate in a roundtable discussion with presentations on current issues affecting farmers. Testimony and roundtable discussion by a panel of farmers will follow. The workshop will also feature two panels focusing on the competitive dynamics in the seed industry and trends in contracting, transparency and buyer power. The first day of the workshops will end with an “enforcer roundtable” and public testimony.
The workshop schedule:
Opening Remarks (9:30 a.m. CST - 9:45 a.m. CST)
Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Eric Holder, Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
Roundtable Discussion and Presentation of Issues (9:45 a.m. CST - 10:45 a.m. CST)
Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Eric Holder, Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, U.S. Department of Justice
Patty Judge, Lt. Governor, State of Iowa
Tom Miller, Attorney General, State of Iowa
Bill Northey, Secretary of Agriculture, State of Iowa
Tom Harkin, Senator, U.S. Senate (tentative)
Chuck Grassley, Senator, U.S. Senate (tentative)
Leonard Boswell, Congressman, U.S. House of Representatives (tentative)
Invited:
Bruce Braley, Congressman, U.S. House of Representatives
Steve King, Congressman, U.S. House of Representatives
Tom Latham, Congressman, U.S. House of Representatives
Dave Loebsack, Congressman, U.S. House of Representatives
Farmer Testimony and Roundtable Discussion (11:15 a.m. CST - 12:15 p.m. CST)
Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, U.S. Department of Justice
Ken Fawcett, independent crop farmer, Eastern Iowa
Jim Foster, hog producer, Montgomery City, Missouri
Pam Johnson, farmer, Floyd, Iowa
Eric Nelson, grain and cattle farmer, Moville, Iowa
Todd Wiley, hog producer, Walker, Iowa
Eddie Wise, hog and produce farmer, Whitakers, North Carolina
Seed Competitive Dynamics Panel (1:15 p.m. CST - 2:15 p.m. CST)
Moderator:
James MacDonald, Chief, Agricultural Structure and Productivity Branch, Economic
Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Panelists:
Ray Gaesser, Soybean and Corn Farmer, Corning, Iowa; Vice President, American
Soybean Association; Former President, Iowa Soybean Association
Neil E. Harl, Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in Agriculture and Emeritus
Professor of Economics, Iowa State University; Member of the Iowa Bar
Dermot Hayes, Professor of Economics and Finance, Pioneer Chair in Agribusiness, Iowa
State University
Diana Moss, Vice President & Senior Fellow, American Antitrust Institute
Jim Tobin, Vice President, Industry Affairs, Monsanto Company
Agricultural Trends Panel (2:15 p.m. CST - 3:15 p.m. CST)
Moderator:
Phil Weiser, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
Panelists:
Brian Buhr, Professor and Head of Department, Applied Economics, University of
Minnesota
Rachael Goodhue, Associate Professor, Department of Agriculture and Resource
Economics, University of California, Davis
Mary Hendrickson, Extension Associate Professor of Rural Sociology, University of
Missouri
John Lawrence, Professor of Economics, Iowa State University
Chuck Wirtz, pork producer, Whittemore, Iowa
Patrick Woodall, Research Director, Food & Water Watch
Enforcer Roundtable Discussion Panel (3:30 p.m. CST - 4:30 p.m. CST)
Moderator:
Mark Tobey, Special Counsel for State Relations and Agriculture, U.S. Department of
Justice
Panelists:
Steve Bullock, Attorney General, State of Montana
Richard Cordray, Attorney General, State of Ohio
Chris Koster, Attorney General, State of Missouri
John Ferrell, Deputy Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, U.S.
Department of Agriculture
Stephen Obie, Director, Division of Enforcement, Commodity Futures Trading
Commission
William Stallings, Assistant Section Chief, Transportation, Energy and Agriculture
Section, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice
Public Testimony (4:30 p.m. CST - 5:30 p.m. CST)
This is an opportunity for those in the audience to make comments in an open forum.
Closing Remarks (5:30 p.m. CST)
Phil Weiser, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
John Ferrell, Deputy Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, U.S.
Department of Agriculture
Additional updates and information will be posted on the Antitrust Division’s agriculture workshop Web site at http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/workshops/ag2010/index.htm.
While no streaming webcast will be available, transcripts will be available for review at a later date on the Antitrust Division’s Web site. Individuals seeking more information on the workshops should contact agriculturalworkshops@usdoj.gov.
Agriculture News, Farm Policy, and Rural Policy
#30
Showing posts with label food production. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food production. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Farm Bureau's Stallman Puts Activists on notice: No More Mr. Nice Guy
In a hard-hitting speech, the Texan signals that farmers and ranchers have had enough of those who want to drag agriculture back to the day of 40 acres and a mule
By Sara Wyant
The farmers and ranchers I know are fiercely independent individuals who are willing to do whatever it takes to take care of their families, their animals and their land. But that doesn’t mean they go looking for fights.
In fact, most of them face so many everyday challenges, like bone-chilling weather and tough economic conditions, that they would just like to stay out of the limelight and live in peace.
But there are a growing number of these battle-scarred men and women who have had enough of the attacks from the growing list of critics, environmental groups and even some of their own elected officials. They have had a long couple of years listening to the Michael Pollans of the world, reading incredibly biased coverage in Time magazine and watching pseudo-documentaries like Food Inc.
You can almost hear them say, “Enough Already!” They are mad as hell and they don’t want to take it any more.
American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman captured that sentiment in his powerful opening speech during the organization’s 91st annual convention in Seattle this week. Stallman, who was elected as the national organization's 11th president in 2000, delivered the most hard-hitting speech I have ever heard him give, and for many of the 4,500 in the audience, it was his best.
It’s been a long time since we have had farm leaders inspire audiences with messages like Mary Elizabeth Lease used to deliver in the late 1800’s, when she reportedly told farmers to “raise less corn and more hell”
Some farmers still remember when the charismatic Oren Lee Staley fired up members of the National Farmers Organization in the early 1960's to fight food processors for higher prices, telling them: "American farmers have retreated as far as they can. We do not intend to retreat any further."
Clearly, there’s been a void in the number of top leaders, both from the public and private sector, who are willing to use the bully pulpit to stand up for American agriculture in more recent years. Stallman indicated that he is ready to take off the gloves and lead the fight. His audience loved it.
(See: “AFBF President calls on farmers and ranchers to unite, fight extremists” http://www.agri-pulse.com/uploaded/20100110S.pdf
It’s not that the Farm Bureau is unwilling to engage divergent interests. As Stallman stood before his convention attendees, an estimated 4,500 farmers and ranchers from all across America, he pointed out:
“As I scan this hall, I see farmers who embrace all the tools of modern agriculture. I see people who choose modern organic production…I see folks who plant conventional seed and those who use biotechnology. I see families who raise livestock in sheltered, climate-controlled conditions. I see feedlot operators. But also among our ranks here in Seattle, I see farm and ranch families who produce grass-fed beef, free-range pork and cage-free eggs.”
And AFBF is actively working with several environmental groups, such as the Environmental Defense Fund, World Wildlife Fund, and The Nature Conservancy on Field to Market: The Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture.
But enough of that “Mr. Nice Guy” stuff.
“A line must be drawn between our polite and respectful engagement with consumers and how we must aggressively respond to extremists who want to drag agriculture back to the day of 40 acres and a mule,” said Stallman. “The time has come to face our opponents with a new attitude. The days of their elitist power grabs are over.”
Consider yourself warned.
Agriculture News, Farm Policy, and Rural Policy
#30
By Sara Wyant
The farmers and ranchers I know are fiercely independent individuals who are willing to do whatever it takes to take care of their families, their animals and their land. But that doesn’t mean they go looking for fights.
In fact, most of them face so many everyday challenges, like bone-chilling weather and tough economic conditions, that they would just like to stay out of the limelight and live in peace.
But there are a growing number of these battle-scarred men and women who have had enough of the attacks from the growing list of critics, environmental groups and even some of their own elected officials. They have had a long couple of years listening to the Michael Pollans of the world, reading incredibly biased coverage in Time magazine and watching pseudo-documentaries like Food Inc.
You can almost hear them say, “Enough Already!” They are mad as hell and they don’t want to take it any more.
American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman captured that sentiment in his powerful opening speech during the organization’s 91st annual convention in Seattle this week. Stallman, who was elected as the national organization's 11th president in 2000, delivered the most hard-hitting speech I have ever heard him give, and for many of the 4,500 in the audience, it was his best.
It’s been a long time since we have had farm leaders inspire audiences with messages like Mary Elizabeth Lease used to deliver in the late 1800’s, when she reportedly told farmers to “raise less corn and more hell”
Some farmers still remember when the charismatic Oren Lee Staley fired up members of the National Farmers Organization in the early 1960's to fight food processors for higher prices, telling them: "American farmers have retreated as far as they can. We do not intend to retreat any further."
Clearly, there’s been a void in the number of top leaders, both from the public and private sector, who are willing to use the bully pulpit to stand up for American agriculture in more recent years. Stallman indicated that he is ready to take off the gloves and lead the fight. His audience loved it.
(See: “AFBF President calls on farmers and ranchers to unite, fight extremists” http://www.agri-pulse.com/uploaded/20100110S.pdf
It’s not that the Farm Bureau is unwilling to engage divergent interests. As Stallman stood before his convention attendees, an estimated 4,500 farmers and ranchers from all across America, he pointed out:
“As I scan this hall, I see farmers who embrace all the tools of modern agriculture. I see people who choose modern organic production…I see folks who plant conventional seed and those who use biotechnology. I see families who raise livestock in sheltered, climate-controlled conditions. I see feedlot operators. But also among our ranks here in Seattle, I see farm and ranch families who produce grass-fed beef, free-range pork and cage-free eggs.”
And AFBF is actively working with several environmental groups, such as the Environmental Defense Fund, World Wildlife Fund, and The Nature Conservancy on Field to Market: The Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture.
But enough of that “Mr. Nice Guy” stuff.
“A line must be drawn between our polite and respectful engagement with consumers and how we must aggressively respond to extremists who want to drag agriculture back to the day of 40 acres and a mule,” said Stallman. “The time has come to face our opponents with a new attitude. The days of their elitist power grabs are over.”
Consider yourself warned.
Agriculture News, Farm Policy, and Rural Policy
#30
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