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.
Advocates for independent family farmers are glad to look around the conference room at the federal workshop on competition in agriculture and see diversity. More importantly, they are hopeful the officials participating in roundtable discussions today will notice.
“Here in this room, in addition to corporate-affiliated people, I’m seeing lots of independent farmers, consumers, advocates and workers who hope this hearing will speak to their concerns — but we’ll see,” said Joel Morton, network coordinator for Farm Aid. “We do hope that is the case.”
In the center of room, directly in front of the panelists, are several rows of union workers identified by their bright yellow shirts. They also realize the importance of allowing government officials and regulators to see that they are interested in this topic, and that they plan to stand with America’s family farmers.
“We applaud the administration for opening up this hearing to a wide array of voices,” said United Food and Commercial Workers International Spokesman Scott Frotman. “They need to see all of these people here and understand that what comes out of these hearings will impact us all.”
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