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GIPSA Reforms Needed, Says Group

The annual meeting of the Organization for Competitive Markets opened yesterday with speakers urging passage of USDA's proposed rules for Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration, announced July 26. The comment period has been extended until Nov. 22.

If accepted, the new rules, part of the Packers and Stockyards Act, would enhance competition and transparency for livestock producers, particularly poultry and cattle, said Fred Stokes, OCM Executive Director. 

"The packers have had a license to rape and pillage for some time now, and this change in the Packers and Stockyards Act may change that," said Stokes. "We believe we're at that crucial moment in history when we have an opportunity to make a difference, and I pray this wont be bogged down in politics."

Auburn Economist Robert Taylor told the audience that fertilizer cartels have concentrated the world's nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium resources in to the hands of a few corporations controlled by a few countries. Phosphorus, in particular, is "a geo-strategic ticking time bomb," he says. Europe has no reserves while the U.S. has about a 15 to 30 year supply. About 60% of the world's phosphate reserves are in Morocco and China.

"We could easily be replacing dependence on foreign oil for dependence on foreign phosphorus," he says. "We are setting ourselves up to rely more and more on agriculture inputs from politically unstable countries."

Neil Harl, Professor emeritus at Iowa State University, told the audience there would be major hurdles before a stable, thriving market is established for generic biotech seed, following the earlier announcement by Monsanto that Roundup Ready One would be going off patent in 2014.

Harl said the industry should not follow some of the practices established by the generic pharmaceutical market when it first formed 25 years ago. Some companies would pay off would-be generic drug makers to delay production of the off-patent products, a tactic known as 'pay for delay.' That policy has cost consumers $4 billion in higher pharmaceutical costs.

"This is one thing I fear the industry may be thinking of doing, and it's something we have to head off as quickly as we can," says Harl.

To avoid such tactics the generic biotech seed market should be regulated by a third-party, government body, not the seed industry itself, he recommends.

"It is critical that the regulation of generics in seed not be given to an industry group like ASTA (American Seed Trade Association)," says Harl.

OCM is a public policy research organization focused on food and agriculture headquartered in Lincoln, Neb. The meeting concludes today with a panel discussion on farm-to-retail spreads.