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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Thursday, November 21, 2024
North Dakota Congressman Rick Berg joins us on this week's Open Mic to discuss his frustration over the stalled 2012 farm bill and his eleventh hour efforts to try to whip votes before the House or Representatives headed home to campaign. Failure to pass the bill has become a political hot button for the North Dakota Republican, who serves on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, and is now running for Senate in a hotly contested race against Heidi Heitkamp. He also talks about his early years working on farms and the importance of letting 4-H and FFA kids continue to do farm labor. In a state that has record low unemployment and healthy state coffers, the Agriculural Economics graduate from NDSU also talks about his concerns that overregulation could stifle small businesses and future economic growth.
This week's Open Mic guest is Paul Schickler, President of DuPont Pioneer, a role he's held since 2007. He talks about the ongoing challenges with getting new seed products registered around the globe, the benefits of competition in the seed industry, as well as the firms ongoing legal battles with Monsanto. The Iowa-based company is breeding more stress tolerance into crops and reports on how those plants performed during a year of record drought. Schickler also talks about future technology that will improve consumer products and profitability for corn and soybean farmers.
With USDA projecting another record year for farm exports, we interviewed Jim Sutter, the Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Soybean Export Council, for Agri-Pulse Open Mic. Sutter comes from a strong background in soybean merchandising and is eager to sell more U.S. soybeans into the world market even as buyers are concerned about tight supplies and high prices. He explains the relationship between the Export Council, the United Soybean Board, the American Soybean Association and the USDA Foreign Ag Service. Sutter believes there is great opportunity to expand U.S. soybean exports and export two-thirds of the crop by 2020, but some countries continue to have trade barriers against our products, and there are increasing concerns about sustainability standards in the EU.
Dr. Clayton Yeutter has long-served as a public servant in the federal government and held several different leadership positions within the private sector, where he is currently a Senior Advisor at Hogan Lovells LLP in Washington D.C. In 1978, he became president of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. In July 1985 President Reagan appointed Yeutter as U.S. Trade Representative. On February 16, 1989, Yeutter was sworn in as the Secretary of Agriculture, where he helped develop the 1990 farm bill. In this weeks Open Mic, the Nebraska native talks about key issues facing farmers and ranchers today and how he believes the Romney administration would offer solutions on issues like trade, taxes and regulatory relief.
With incredible heat and drought conditions across much of the U.S., some have compared this time period to previous record-breaking droughts dating back to the 1930's Dust Bowl years. Yet with new technologies and conservation techniques, USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Ann Mills explains how farmers and ranchers are preserving precious resources despite the weather-related challenges and how new conservation innovation grants might lead to even better practices. Mills, who previously directed the Senate office of Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle and worked on bio-fuels issues for then-Congressman Richard Durbin, talks about how a new farm bill might shape future conservation programs and how environmental markets could emerge as a new revenue stream for producers.
Rick Tolman, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of Corn Growers for the last 12 years, is our guest on Agri-Pulse Open Mic. As a member of the "Farm Bill Now" coalition, Tolman talks about his group's disapointment that members of Congress can't get the job done. He also talks about how ethanol has allowed agriculture to be a bright light in the national economy and explains how, from a technical standpoint, NCGA needs to be supportive of those who want to petition the EPA for a waiver of the Renewable Fuels Standard. We also asked him to grade the Obama Administration's approach to agriculture.
