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.
The federal agencies jointly hosting a workshop on competition and regulation in the dairy industry later this month in Wisconsin have provided additional details.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Justice will hold the workshop on June 25 in Madison, Wisc., on the University of Wisconsin campus. It is the third such meeting jointly hosted by the two agencies, and will focus on the dairy industry. Those who wish to attend the Wisconsin workshop should use the online registration form.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ’s Antitrust Division Christine Varney are scheduled to participate in a roundtable discussion to open the event. U.S. Sens. Herb Koh, Russ Feingold and U.S. Reps. Ron Kind, Steve Kagen and Tammy Baldwin have tentatively accepted invitations to join the roundtable discussion. Also tentatively accepting invitations to participate are Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle and Secretary of Agriculture Rod Nilsestuen. According to government records, invitations have also been extended to U.S. Reps. Thomas Petri and David Obey, but neither man has to date acknowledged them.
Remaining panels throughout the day will feature farmers, processors, academics and other dairy industry stakeholders, according to the federal organizers. Additional details on the schedule and individual panelists is expected at a later date.
Following the Wisconsin meeting, a workshop focusing on the livestock industry will be held in Colorado in August and the final workshop on margins in agriculture will be held in Washington, D.C. in December.
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