Greeley Tribune By Trevor Reid The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to purchase $22.3 million of pork from Greeley-based JBS USA, which is owned by JBS SA, a Brazil-based company. The purchase is part of a bailout program intended to provide aid to U.S. farmers negatively impacted by the international trade war. In November 2018, Smithfield Foods, owned by a Chinese firm, pulled its bid for $240,000 in pork payments after Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, echoed criticisms that Read More …
Category: Media Coverage
Livestock Market Digest | Lee Pitts: Or So We Were Told
First printed in the Livestock Market Digest By Lee Pitts Ever since the beef checkoff went into effect on July 18, 1986, we could count on regular “independent survey results” informing us that 70% or more of all cattlemen approved of the beef checkoff. Typical of such glowing report cards was the one that told us that for every beef checkoff dollar collected, cattlemen were receiving back $11.20 in revenue. You’d have to be a complete, knuckle-dragging ignoramus Read More …
Feedstuffs | USDA rule finalizes reorganization of GIPSA, FSA
Feedstuffs The U.S. Department of Agriculture finalized a rule Nov. 29 that finalizes proposed changes to the department, including a reorganization of the Farm Production & Conservation (FPAC) mission area as well as elimination of the Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) as a stand-alone agency, moving under the jurisdiction of the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). The move took effect with the issuance of a November 2017 memo and was formalized Thursday in the Federal Register. The Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) Read More …
Brownfield Ag News | OCM: Beef Checkoff Suit Against USDA at Critical Phase
Brownfield Ag News By Tom Steever Audio is available at above link. The executive director of the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) says that group’s Beef Checkoff suit against the USDA is at an important phase. Joe Maxwell tells Brownfield OCM has worked five years for the opportunity to file briefs and make its argument in federal court. “Farmers and ranchers should have the right to know how their taxes are being expended,” Maxwell told Brownfield Ag News Read More …
The Washington Post | Chinese-owned company qualifies for Trump’s anti-China farm bailout
The Washington Post By Jeff Stein A Chinese-owned pork producer is eligible for federal payments under President Trump’s $12 billion farm bailout, a program that was established to help U.S. farmers hurt by Trump’s trade war with China. Smithfield Foods, a Virginia-based pork producer acquired in 2013 by a Chinese conglomerate now named WH Group, can apply for federal money under the bailout program created this summer, said Agriculture Department spokesman Carl E. Purvis. JBS, a subsidiary of Read More …
Drovers | GIPSA Rules Back On USDA Agenda In 2019
Drovers By Greg Henderson The U.S. Department of Agriculture intends to reopen the rulemaking process known as “Farmer Fair Practices Rules.” That announcement was made by a Department of Justice attorney arguing on behalf of USDA in court last week. During oral arguments in a lawsuit filed by the Organization for Competitive Markets, attorney Weili Shaw said USDA intends to put on its spring 2019 regulatory agenda the rulemaking process for Farmer Fair Practices, formerly known as the Read More …
Meatingplace | GIPSA rules fester as USDA goes back to the drawing board
Meatingplace By Tom Johnston on 9/28/2018 USDA intends to put on its spring 2019 regulatory agenda the unsettled matter of rules governing how meatpackers contract with farmers and ranchers, with a possible notice of proposed rulemaking coming sometime after that — and then another rulemaking process to follow that notice. So said attorney Weili Shaw as he defended USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service Fair Trade Practices Program, formerly known as the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA), on Wednesday in Read More …
Iowa Public Radio | Some Iowa Farmers See Source of Help in New Jersey Senator’s Anti-Mergers Bill
Iowa Public Radio By Amy Mayer Independent farmers who question the consolidation of farming are finding support from an unexpected ally. New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker has introduced a bill calling for an 18-month moratorium on mergers and acquisitions in the food and agribusiness sector. North Iowa farmer Chris Petersen says most farmers don’t get any benefits when the large seed and chemical companies pair-up. During several recent marriages, the companies suggested prices for their products would come Read More …