Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
A ban on meatpacker ownership of livestock in the new Farm Bill continues to have support in both houses of Congress.
The “packer ban” and other agricultural competition provisions — aimed at limiting the power of large agribusinesses to manipulate markets — were passed in the Senate’s version of the bill. They were not included, however, in the bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.
So now it’s going to be up to the members of the conference committee to decide whether those provisions make it to the final version of the bill, and at least one likely conferee from the House is in favor of it.
The House members who will serve on the conference committee have not yet been named, but Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, is expected to be chosen because of his position as chairman of the Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry.
Boswell issued a press release Thursday “reaffirming” his support for the competition provisions passed by the Senate, a position that differs from House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn.
Boswell’s press release stated that he’d met recently with Iowa Farmers Union president Chris Petersen and vice president Kevin Miskell, as well as John Crabtree of the Center for Rural Affairs, to discuss the competition provisions in the bill.
Iowa Independent contacted Crabtree, who said Boswell deserves credit for his efforts in fighting for family farmers. “We applaud the fact that Congressman Boswell has stood up on this, despite the fact that the chairman doesn’t agree with him. It demonstrates that there’s more than one viewpoint on this, and that the chairman doesn’t have universal support in his statements saying it’s not going to happen.”
Crabtree said that Chairman Peterson has repeatedly stated that the competition provisions, including the ban on meatpacker ownership of livestock, will not be included in the final version of the bill. “Collin Peterson is not a big proponent of these reforms,” said Crabtree. “So we feel that it is important to get the point on record that not all of the (likely) conferees agree with him. Congressman Boswell, for one, thinks otherwise.”
Boswell’s press release stated that he is specifically supportive of the Senate’s inclusion of the ban on packer ownership and a restriction on mandatory arbitration in livestock production contracts that was passed by the Senate. He also stated that he supports the changes to the country of origin labeling law that will allow for its implementation.
“Clearly, there’s support on the Senate side for this,” said Crabtree. “The Senate farm bill includes the provisions that Congressman Boswell mentioned specifically. And when they get this conference started in earnest, it’s going to be important for everyone to know that there’s support for those provisions on the House side.”
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