Agriculture News

Catfish Inspections on chopping block, fight continues

Catfish inspections could be on the chopping block. After a heated debate, the Senate narrowly voted to stop the U-S Department of Agriculture from inspecting the fish.   Opponents of the inspections say there’s something fishy surrounding Wicker’s motives. They think he wants to squash competition from places like Vietnam, where the fish comes cheaper. They also believe an inspection program like this is waste of money. But Wicker claims it's cost-effective at just over $1 million a year.  The USDA said, “The Administration has always prioritized appropriate controls that result in a safe food supply for American consumers. The Administration also seeks to ensure regulatory certainty for those throughout the supply chain. "The USDA rule resulted from a clear congressional directive in the 2014 Farm Bill that required the USDA to act. The Administration will continue to work with Congress to continue to maintain the safety of food supply, while ensuring regulatory certainty.”

Ag Merger Mania

Neil Harl has been waiting for an uprising in the countryside that doesn't seem to be coming.  A professor emeritus in ag economics at Iowa State University, Harl has been watching the consolidation of companies selling agricultural inputs his entire career. He recalls in the early 1980s there were more than 400 seed companies around the country.  Consolidation in the seed industry intensified in the past three decades. Since 2010, two companies -- DuPont Pioneer and Monsanto -- have controlled 70% of corn hybrid sales, according to industry numbers. Harl is surprised by the lack of apprehension from farmers who have seen prices for inputs continue to go up.  "I would have expected uprisings over the last several months," Harl said. "Farmers haven't been able to organize against (seed) price increases so they have a take-it-or-leave-it kind of situation there.  Harl added, "It's probably going to have to get worse before there is enough of an awakening. There's so much at stake here that I wake up in the morning and wonder what else we can do to get people excited about this because I think it's worthy of that kind of attention."

The latest round of consolidation in the seed and chemical industry kicked off late last year as Dow Chemical and DuPont announced plans to merge in a deal then valued at about $130 billion. Dow-DuPont will spin off into three separate divisions, including a stand-alone ag division. Since Dow-DuPont, the state-owned China National Chemical Corp. (ChemChina) announced plans to buy Swiss-based Syngenta for $43 billion. That deal came after Monsanto Co. spent much of last year trying to woo Syngenta.  Now, Monsanto is on the other side of the sale block, with a $62 billion offer from Bayer AG rejected only because Monsanto wants a better deal for its shareholders.

Opinion: Make no mistake: The bank lobby wants to kill farm credit

Because for years, both the American Bankers Association (ABA) and the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) have been doing everything in their power to undercut Farm Credit in the halls of Congress. And they both have gone on record over the past year advocating that Farm Credit be abolished.

Last year, for instance, then ABA President & CEO Frank Keating did a recorded interview in which he explicitly called for Farm Credit to be eliminated. “To have the Farm Credit System, an ossified anachronism, still in existence just makes no sense whatsoever,” Keating proclaimed. “It's time we have the debate [in Congress], which we are, and the next step of course is not just to have the debate but actually get rid of the Farm Credit System.”  Meanwhile, at the ICBA website, a list of policy priorities for 2016 includes the following: “ICBA urges Congress to either abolish the FCS, or at a minimum restrict the FCS to its historical mission of serving the agricultural marketplace.”

The customer-owners of the Farm Credit System include over 525,000 farmers, ranchers, cooperatives and other rural borrowers across the country. They rely on Farm Credit every day for loans and other financial services that help their businesses succeed and their communities stay viable. As customer-owners of Farm Credit institutions, they have a direct say in how their institution accomplishes its mission to support rural communities and agriculture. And because they are owners, they know that Farm Credit will be there to meet their needs in good times and bad. 

Florida city bans commercially bred animals from pet stores

Hollywood, Florida commissioners voted 6-1 in favor of the ban before a packed house, with Commissioner Patty Asseff casting the lone dissenting vote. Under the ban, pet shops will be forced to sell dogs and cats from animal shelters and rescue groups. The controversial proposal drew more than 55 speakers, including Judy Norford, the owner of Puppy Palace, the only store in Hollywood that sells commercially bred animals.  "My puppies are my life," Norford said. "I eat, sleep, drink puppies. No one loves animals more than I do." Ron Book, attorney for Norford, argued dog lovers should have the right to choose purebred puppies from pet shops.  But dozens of speakers urged city leaders to put the squeeze on what they say is a cruel industry that forces animals to live out their lives in tiny cages without toys, human attention or even basic medical care.  They listed several cities nationwide that have passed similar bans, including Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles.  But several speakers — many of them employees and relatives of Norford — defended Puppy Palace, saying it has been in business for 32 years and has a long list of happy customers.