This week marks the first of a series of antitrust "workshops" by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). This first one will be in Ankeny, Iowa, focusing on "issues of concern to farmers," including "seed technology, vertical integration, market transparency and buyer power."
So... silly question: Should a workshop about "issues of concern to FARMERS" include presentations by farmers? Umm, maybe. According to the DOJ anyway. They've now amended the originally proposed schedule to include some farmer representation.
In the week leading up to this first workshop, the DOJ did something radical... sort of. They tentatively agreed that farmers should be represented (you know, given that the workshop is about, um, FARMING).
The U.S. departments of justice and agriculture at least tentatively agree that the voices of individuals who make a direct living off the land should be featured in an upcoming joint antitrust workshop in Ankeny.
That happened AFTER the initial agenda "drew the ire of rural activists when the announced slate of participants was severely lacking direct farmer and producer input." At that point, Sen. Harkin spoke up, asking the DOJ & USDA to actually include farmers.
The agenda then changed to include 45 minutes of presentations from the following:
Ken Fawcett, independent crop farmer, eastern Iowa
Jim Foster, hog producer, Montgomery City, Mo.
Pam Johnson, farmer, Floyd, Iowa
Eric Nelson, grain and cattle farmer, Moville, Iowa
Todd Wiley, hog producer, Walker, Iowa
Melvin Crum, corn, soybean and cotton farmer, South Carolina (tentative)
But then take a look at who these people really are. Yes, they are farmers, but the article points out at least some of them have "third party affiliations" that make them not exactly the perfect representatives of the voice of the average farmer.
Wiley, who is co-owner and managing partner of Interstate Swine LLC, is affiliated with the National Pork Producers Council as a producer with contract growers. In other words, he is a large-scale producer who contracts with other farmers for care of his livestock. He also already has ties with the USDA since he was one of 154 pork producers nationally named by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to the 2010 National Pork Producers Delegate Body.
However, Nelson and Foster serve on the board of directors for the Organization for Competitive Markets, a Lincoln, Neb.-based public policy research organization that has been incredibly outspoken against big business dominance in the industry.
Should Farmers Speak at a Government Hearing on Farming?
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Should Farmers Speak at a Govt Hearing on Farming?
By Jill Richardson
La Vida Locavore, March 10, 2010
Straight to the Source
