David Kruse President, ComStock Investments (With Permission to Reproduce) Copyright 2011@ CommStock Investments, Inc., David Kruse Darden Restaurants, which own Olive Garden and Longhorn Outlets, believes food prices and net energy costs will rise 1.5-2% this year and 3.5-4% in 2012. Darden has locked in 100% of its seafood for this year and 30% for 2012. It has bought 75% of its beef needs for 2011 and 40% for 2012. These two foodstuffs, fish and beef, account for Read More …
Category: GIPSA Rule
The Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s agency that facilitates the marketing of livestock, poultry, meat, cereals, oilseeds, and related agricultural products, and promotes fair and competitive trading practices for the overall benefit of consumers and American agriculture.
GIPSA is part of USDA’s Marketing and Regulatory Programs, which are working to ensure a productive and competitive global marketplace for U.S. agricultural products.
The Agency’s Packers and Stockyards Program (P&SP) promotes fair business practices and competitive environments to market livestock, meat, and poultry. Through its oversight activities, including monitoring programs, reviews, and investigations, P&SP fosters fair competition, provides payment protection, and guards against deceptive and fraudulent trade practices that affect the movement and price of meat animals and their products. P&SP’s work protects consumers and members of the livestock, meat, and poultry industries.
The Agency’s Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) facilitates the marketing of U.S. grain and related agricultural products by establishing standards for quality assessments, regulating handling practices, and managing a network of Federal, State, and private laboratories that provide impartial, user fee funded official inspection and weighing services.
MO Big Pig
The Missouri legislature is passing laws that makes the world safe for Big Pig. That means, the world is a lot less safe for the rest of us. by RICHARD OSWALD One of my favorite pictures is one of Dad when he was about 10 years old, standing next to Granddad’s prize hog. A good caption would be “Are you gonna eat that?’ That’s about the way some of us in Missouri feel about the current CAFO hog Read More …
Reforming the Marketplace; What’s Next?
Thomas F. “Fred” Stokes Executive Director In a February 9th letter to Agriculture Secretary Vilsack and Attorney General Holder, Senators Patrick Leahy and Charles Grassley state; “we would appreciate an update as to what the DOJ and USDA plans for its next steps.” The two senators, Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, were referring to following-on actions after the conclusion of last year’s joint DOJ/USDA workshops. “What’s next” seems to be the question on the Read More …
The GIPSA Bubble
by Randy Stevenson, President When the market moves, there is usually more than one single factor involved. This is especially true the more long-term we look at the market. But it is also common that one factor or another may have a stronger influence at any given time on the status of the market. It seems strange that over the past few months a rise of price in the cattle market has coincided with concern over the new Read More …
Let’s Look at the Statute. Surprise! It’s Not About Efficiency!
By C. Robert Taylor and David Domina Many academic economists have blinders on: All they see is efficiency, efficiency, efficiency. This is true of recent comments about GIPSA proposed regulations and the Packers & Stockyards Act of 1921. It is also true of numerous economic analyses by government and academic economists. Generations of economists have recognized that economic efficiency is necessarily a value-laden concept, and a particularly narrow view of economic affairs at that. Nevertheless, economists responsible for Read More …
Packers and Stockyards Act; Nullified by Judcial Activism! – Must We Let It Rest in Peace?
Thomas F. “Fred” Stokes Executive Director The Rule doesn’t reinvent the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 (PSA) but rather reinvigorates it”, so says David Domina, OCM General Counsel of the Proposed GIPSA Rule published on the federal register June 22, 2010. The rule was issued pursuant to the 2008 Farm Bill to clarify and interpret the 89 year old Packers and Stockyards Act, but the PSA (sometimes called the producer’s protection act) may well be nullified by Read More …
Time to Start Discussing a Solution
by Randy Stevenson, President Controversy has erupted over the proposed new GIPSA rules. This disagreement is not unusual in a discussion of the details of the role of government in the marketplace. Nearly everybody agrees that government involvement ought to be “just right”, and not too much nor too little. The disagreement comes over what constitutes “just right”. One argument brought forth by both sides is that the nature of the marketplace has changed. Whereas cattle for slaughter Read More …
Bacon
by Richard Oswald According to National Public Radio, (1), the one thing vegans can’t resist is a slice of crispy fried pork. That makes bacon the gateway meat for wavering vegetarians. Bacon lures us first through smell, which has a lot to do with the way tastebuds do their job. It has salt, protein, and fat—things human bodies crave. That’s why a scientist named Johan Lundstrom claims the bacon/human love affair happens simply because our brains are wired Read More …