Agriculture
As Postville implodes, hostility to Rubashkin grows
People in and around the small northern Iowa community of Postville have been gathering donations to help care for former Agriprocessors employees left in the lurch by the mass arrest, deportations of immigrant workers, and layoffs resulting from the firm’s legal problems, and the tempers of those cast out are beginning to flare.
Fraud charges familiar to the Rubashkin family
The arrest of Agriprocessors CEO Sholom Rubashkin on bank fraud charges earlier today marked the fourth time that he or his brother has been alleged to have engaged in financial deception.
Agriprocessors bankruptcy update
The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Postville meatpacking plant Agriprocessors is slowly making its way through the New York courts. Creditors, primarily located in the Midwest, have filed motions with the court to move the proceedings from the east coast to Iowa, but the court is not expected to make a ruling on that motion [...]
Advocacy group speaks out against Vilsack as Ag Secretary
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA), a Minnesota-based non-profit organization advocating for organic and sustainable agriculture, has issued a list of six reasons why former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack should not be appointed Secretary of Agriculture by President-Elect Barack Obama.
Zieman is first political casualty of Postville
If immigration issues were a political football in this year’s state legislative races, then Senate District 8, an area that encompasses Howard, Chickasaw, Allamakee and Winneshiek counties in northeastern Iowa and includes the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant, was the 50-yard line.
Ethanol gets new voice in D.C.
A coalition of ethanol companies has formed a new organization with the goal of fighting back against groups like the Grocery Manufacturers Association that have been lobbying the government to roll back incentives for ethanol.
The organization, Growth Energy, is planning a national advertising campaign, starting in Wednesday’s New York Times, to defend the industry from [...]
Agriprocessors roller coaster mounts another climb
Jewish rabbis were not paid Friday, and it was not the first time time. Other employees did receive paychecks, although some voiced concern that the checks may not clear. The rabbis were asked for patience and promised payments as soon as possible.
According to a source who attended a meeting Friday with upper management, the plant plans to concentrate on poultry production — particularly on chicken — in the near future. The plant’s beef line has operated only sporadically over the past two weeks.
King warned McCain campaign about ethanol hostility
U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, told The Des Moines Register that he tried to get John McCain to ease up on the ethanol attacks and frame the debate in a different way that wouldn’t alienate farmers. King thinks McCain’s vocal opposition to ethanol subsidies played a role in the Arizona Republican’s poor performance in Iowa.
Postville tense after evictions, another raid and Agri’s bankruptcy
“I have no clue where to start.”
That was the phrase uttered time and time again as residents in and around Postville were asked to describe what’s happened this week in their community.
Rubashkin family member heads to prison for Pennsylvania misdeeds
The Rubashkin family, owners and founders of the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, were handed another defeat this week as Moshe Rubashkin was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison.
Moshe, a son of Agriprocessors founder A. Aaron Rubashkin, had pleaded guilty in February to leaving hazardous waste inside the Allentown, PA textile plant he owned and operated. His son, Shalom Rubashkin, was also charged in the case and will be sentenced next month.