Fort Collins agenda is posted

From the U.S. Department of Justice:

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND USDA ANNOUNCE
AGENDA FOR AUGUST 27 LIVESTOCK WORKSHOP IN COLORADO

Workshop to be Held at Colorado State University

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today the agenda and panelists for the Aug. 27, 2010, joint public workshop in Fort Collins, Colo., on competition in the livestock industry. This is the fourth in a series of five public workshops. This workshop is focused on the state of competition and regulation in the livestock sectors, in particular the cattle industry.

The workshop will be held in the main ballroom of the Lory Student Center, Colorado State University, 1101 Centre Avenue Mall, Fort Collins. Attendance is free and open to the public. The general public and media interested in attending the Colorado workshop should register at www.conferences.colostate.edu/LiveStockWorkshop.

The workshop will begin with opening remarks and a roundtable discussion including U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Antitrust Division Christine Varney. They will be joined by U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture John Stulp and Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock.

Following this introductory discussion, there will be three panels composed of ranchers, farmers, academics and other industry stakeholders. First, Secretary Vilsack and Assistant Attorney General Varney will moderate a conversation among producers and feeders. Second, a panel on trends will look at developments in the industry in recent decades and the trajectory moving forward. The final panel will then discuss in greater depth issues such as contracting, transparency and vertical integration.

Additionally, there will be three hours dedicated to public testimony. This will be split into two sessions, one at mid-day and the other after the final panel.

The schedule for the day is as follows:

8:30 a.m - 8:45 a.m. MDT Opening Remarks

Eric Holder, Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture

8:45 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. MDT Keynote Roundtable Discussion

Eric Holder, Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice
Betsy Markey, Congresswoman, U.S. House of Representatives
Bill Ritter Jr., Governor, state of Colorado
John Suthers, Attorney General, state of Colorado
Steve Bullock, Attorney General, state of Montana
John Stulp, Commissioner of Agriculture, state of Colorado

9:45 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. MDT Coffee Break

10:15 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. MDT Producer/Feeder Presentation of Issues

This panel will be an opportunity to hear first-hand from producers or feeders as they share their experiences and perspectives on the industry.

Moderators: Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice

Mike Harper, sheep producer, Eaton, Colo.
Dr. Taylor Haynes, rancher, Cheyenne, Wyo.
Robbie LeValley, rancher, Hotchkiss, Colo.
Harry Livermont, rancher, Interior, S.D.
Chris Petersen, hog farmer, Clear Lake, Iowa
Allen Sents, feedlot owner, Marquette, Kan.
Alden Zuhlke, rancher, Brunswick, Neb.

11:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. MDT Lunch

12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. MDT Public Testimony

1:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. MDT Panel I - Trends in the Livestock Industry

This panel will discuss trends in the livestock industry, including issues associated with contracting, price transparency and the effects of concentration.

Moderator: Philip Weiser, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice

Jerry Bohn, general manager, Pratt Feeders, Pratt, Kan.
Libby Cook, co-founder, Wild Oats Markets and Sunflower Farmers Markets
Mark Greenwood, vice president, commercial lending, AgStar Financial Services
Bill Heffernan, professor emeritus of rural sociology, University of Missouri
Mark Lauritsen, international vice president, director food processing, packing and manufacturing division, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union
Gilles Stockton, rancher, Range, Mont.
Armando Valdez, rancher, La Jara, Colo.
Clem Ward, professor and extension economist, Oklahoma State University

2:45 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. MDT Panel II - Market Structure

This panel will include a variety of market participants who will discuss market structure issues in the livestock industry.

Moderator: James MacDonald, Chief, Agricultural Structure and Productivity Branch, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Bruce Cobb, general manager, Consolidated Beef Producers
David Domina, attorney, Domina Law Group
Mark Dopp, attorney, American Meat Institute
James Herring, president and chief executive officer, Friona Industries
Robert Mack, cattle producer/feeder, Watertown, S.D.
Bob Miller, rancher, Okmulgee, Okla.
William Rishel, Richel Angus, Platt, Neb.
Charlie Rogers, owner/general manager, Clovis Livestock Auction

4:00 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. MDT Break

4:15 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. MDT Public Testimony

6:30 p.m. MDT Concluding Remarks

Additional information, including submitted public comments and transcripts for past workshops can be found at the Antitrust Division's agriculture workshop website at www.justice.gov/atr/public/workshops/ag2010/index.htm. While no streaming webcast will be available, transcripts and video will be available for this workshop at a later date on the Antitrust Division's website. Individuals seeking more information on the workshops should contact agriculturalworkshops@usdoj.gov.

The Capital Press' story is here. In my view, the absence of a representative of the "big four" packing companies raises serious questions about the credibility of the meeting, even if two of the companies did decline invitations to the event. After all, don't even the packers' critics want an explanation of how and why they set prices the way they do? Did the packers opt out because they didn't want to walk into an ambush?

No one wants a glorified complaining session at taxpayer expense, but it appears that this is what we may have on Friday.

Heat-stress rules approved

California's workplace-safety board today approved the heat-stress rules that a state agency proposed in July.

The approval served mostly to firm-up existing rules, something farm groups have said is necessary in the effort to educate employers. Farm employers say they're just now conquering the logistics of training crews and monitoring workers, and they fear liability.

An ongoing criminal lawsuit in San Joaquin County marks the first known instance that an employer has been tried for the heat-related death of an employee.

Sugar beets: next steps unclear

A tense atmosphere of wait-and-see has settled over the sugar beet industry.

In the lawsuit over Monsanto's Roundup Ready beets, federal Judge Jeffrey White on Friday made the seeds illegal to use until USDA produces environmental documentation to support their deregulation.

The most immediate question surrounds existing crops. Organic growers had wanted White to decide on rules for how they're to be harvested, transported and processed, but he kicked the task to USDA.

White issued his decision in the afternoon, following a morning hearing in his San Francisco courtroom. Some were surprised by the quick turnaround, and today the players are scrambling to sort out their options.

The industry says it needs time to confer with USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. APHIS says it needs time to digest the ruling. And plaintiffs in the case, represented by Earthjustice, say they'll be watching for any chance to mount another lawsuit over how the agency implements whatever plan it chooses in the coming months.

Check back for updates ...

Judge: sugar beet decision imminent

Concluding a hearing Friday morning in San Francisco, federal Judge Jeffrey White said he would rule shortly on whether to immediately restrict Monsanto Co.'s Roundup Ready sugar beets.

Plaintiffs argued for a total ban until USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service completes the environmental documentation that White said it needs in order to deregulate the seeds.

Plaintiffs are not seeking to halt handling and processing of crops from earlier this year, however -- they just want a list of restrictions on how the industry does so.

White has indicated he'll likely rule in favor of plaintiffs, but he has options. He could simply revoke APHIS's deregulation of the seeds, leaving the agency to decide how to restrict the seeds moving forward.

That's what the industry wants, but plaintiffs say such a process would take too long, allowing for greater cross-pollination with organic crops.

Check Capital Press for further updates.

Western Growers endorses Fiorina

Western Growers today endorsed Carly Fiorina for Sen. Barbara Boxer's seat in California, saying the former Hewlett-Packard and AT&T executive is listening to farmers.

A statement from CEO Tom Nassif says Fiorina "understands what it takes to run a business in this state.

"She supports California agriculture and understands how issues like new health care reform regulations, changes in taxation, union-supported 'card check' legislation and many other laws and regulations will harm the ability of California farmers to produce a safe, reliable and affordable supply of the food people eat," Nassif said.

A poll last week by the Public Policy Institute of California indicated a close race, with respondents preferring Boxer 39 percent to 34 percent while 22 percent remain undecided.

Happy birthday to the new capitalpress.com

It was one year ago this month that we relaunched the Capital Press website with a new look and a ton of new features.

We still think of it as our "new" website, but as of Aug. 1, it is now 1 year old.

The site continues to grow and evolve as we find new options we want to provide for our visitors and based on suggestions we hear from visitors to the site.

While you can find all of the ads and stories you would find in print editions of the Capital Press on our website, it is, in many ways, a very different information service. Our print editions only come out once a week, but we update the website at least five days a week. Some of the things you will find on our website are only available there.

It is a work in progress. We hope you like the progress so far and find some, or all, of the expanded features helpful. But we would be surprised if anyone is taking advantage of all of the features. There are so many, sometimes even those of us that work for the Capital Press lose track of some of the features our website.

The website is designed so you can get news and advertising in a manner that best suits your needs. If you haven't checked out the site, here are some of key features of the site:

Search stories and ads at the same time — From the search box in the top right corner of every page you can type in what you want to find and search across all of our site's current stories and ads to find your search word or search terms.

Searchable archives — If you are looking for story from a past edition of Capital Press, you can search our online archive of material dating back to 2002.

Download PDF copies of the print editions — If you want to see how a story looked in print, or want a color copy of a page that appeared in our paper, but someone recycled your copy, subscribers can download a PDF of an entire edition and print out any pages they want.

A la carte options for non subscribers — If you can't have a subscription to the Capital Press, but want access to all the features of our website, you can buy access by the day — or longer — right from your computer.

Mobile-enabled pages — Smart phones and other mobile devices make it easy to access websites when you are away from the computer, but they are not always convenient to read on a small screen. If you want to view web stories from pages designed specifically for use on mobile devices, you can check out our mobile website:

E-newsletters — We offer multiple options for electronic newsletters that can be sent direct to your e-mail on your computer or mobile phone. We have a daily newsletter, a weekly newsletter of our top stories, California and Idaho newsletters, a dairy newsletter and one for livestock news. All you have to do is register on our site, and tell us which newsletters you want sent to your e-mail. Pick one, pick a couple or pick them all, that's your choice.

SMS text alerts for breaking news — When big news breaks, we can send you a text alert with a link to the story delivered right to your cell phone. You can sign up for this service by registering in the website. And don't worry. We won't bombard you with text messages. We average less than one SMS alert a week.

Multiple RSS feeds — If you want to monitor ag news on specific topics or based on geography, you can monitor a selection of RSS feeds. Click here for the full list of feeds we offer.

User forums — This is perhaps the most underutilized area of our site, but one which offer great potential. Registered users of our site can post question and comments for each other, share information or ask questions of us here at the Capital Press. It's your forum. You can make it whatever you want it to be.

Online classified ad placement — As always, you can call us at the Capital Press and we can you build a line ad to sell a piece of farm equipment, tools or anything else you are trying to sell. But if you want to to build the ad yourself, you can place your line ad online through our online ad placement system.

State-specific weather — On our California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Montana pages, you can find state-specific weather information, including weather radar maps to see what Mother Nature may have in store for you.

RSS feeds with headlines from our sister papers — Capital Press is part of a family of newspapers, and we can give you access to some of the top news headlines from our sister papers throughout the Pacific Northwest at this link. Through our site we can give you a peak at what's happening in other areas where East Oregonian Publishing Company has newspapers.

Social media integration — We know that everyone wants to get their news specifically from a news website. So if you prefer to monitor developments through a Facebook or Twitter account, you can like up with us on those services. You can also keep an eye on what people on Twitter are saying on agriculture topics on our home page and other pages on our website's home page.

Put your events on our calendar — Have an upcoming event you want featured on the Capital Press online calendar? You can post your calendar listing directly to our calendar on the website with as much detail as you want to include.

Support services — A new service we launched this summer can help you improve your online reach and customer connections. You don't have to be a digital marketing expert. Let Capital Press Digital Marketing Services help you improve your online footprint.

Those are just some of the things you can find on our website that's celebrating it's birthday this month. Thanks for checking it out and for telling us the things you want an need in an agriculture information site. Your suggestions pushed us to expand our offerings. Thank you for your suggestions over the years. We appreciate them and hope they have come back to you in a site that is more useful to you.