Investigate Midwest (https://investigatemidwest.org/category/opinion/)
U.S. District Court for the Southern District senior judge James E. Gritzner's preliminary injunction last month prohibiting the state of Iowa from enforcing a law making it a misdemeanor criminal offense against people using deception to gain access to agricultural production facilities for all practical purposes used the duck test.
It's that time of year again when your intrepid commentator whips out a divining rod, a scraying ball, a set of tarot cards and three marbles to prognosticate the most critical ag stories for 2020.
Here is an indisputable fact ... at the end of the day the marketplace determines business success. Especially when it comes to supply and demand of commodities. Have not enough supply and great demand and prices will go up. Have just enough supply and great demand and prices will hold steady if not increase slowly.
But have way way too much supply and dwindling demand and prices and sales will plummet rapidly. And such is the case for the U.S. milk industry which for years have ignored supply and demand forces.
Because the truth is there are too many milking cows in the U.S. while the American public have increasingly decided the answer to “Got Milk” is nope. The supply-demand imbalance reflects, in part, the management skill of U.S. dairy farmers. Way back in 1999 U.S. dairy cows produced an average of 17,763 pounds of milk a year.
But thanks to better genetics and improved feed rations dairy cows produced an average of 22,775 pounds of milk annually by 2018.
It's a head scratcher. For unfathomable reasons USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue's connotative discourse has created self-inflicted wounds for the White House.
Ultimately this case should turn on what an adult can reasonable expect a GMO label to convey. Does Nestle's No GMO Ingredients label mimic a third party verified seal with stricter standards thus confusing consumers?
Now that the dust has settled on the move of USDA's Economic Research Service from Washington D.C. to Kansas City Dave Dickey takes stock.
As Bayer faces a growing number of lawsuits alleging its key pesticide, Roundup, causes cancer, Dave Dickey says the company is playing the long game.
OK, let's begin with the obvious. The POTUS is not a meteorologist (although he's been known to play one on TV). Meteorologists pride themselves on using the best scientific tools at their disposal in order to provide the public with the most possible accurate weather forecast. Full stop. Meanwhile, the POTUS has shown himself to be less than science-friendly. And there's the rub. Now generally I don't get too involved in whatever kerfuffle the White House is embroiled in at any given moment, but when it comes to all things agriculture (and what is more agriculture-dependent than the weather) I pay attention. And what one comes away with regarding the POTUS' September #Sharpie-gate surprise regarding the potential storm track of Hurricane Dorian is that this particular White House has no problems with providing the public with misleading (some would say false or outdated) weather projections to protect the President's beliefs (right or wrong). Anyone reading my December 2016 blog to fellow journalists would not be surprised that weather forecasts could one day could not only become twisted but politicized. Truth is a fragile thing.
Yes it's true, that once in a while a company or individual does something so outrageously stupid that the government wakes up out of a slumber and recognizes a manipulation for what it is.
But when it comes to commodity manipulation the government has been over-matched.
For the purpose of this blog we're going to look at just two major, major commodity manipulations that share a common thread.
As Dave Dickey writes, gaslighting has become a White House weapon of choice in trying to convince individual American farmers all is well while they financially are suffering from the POTUS agricultural policy choices.