Iowa to Host First USDA Meeting on 'Competition in Agriculture'

A series of public workshops looking at competition in agriculture and the role of federal anti-trust laws and their enforcement will take place at five locations across the nation in 2010. The first of those meetings, to be held jointly by USDA and the U.S. Department of Justice, will be in Iowa. USDA and the Justice Department made the announcement last week. The initial workshop is set for March 12 at the new FFA Enrichment Center in Ankeny, north of Des Moines. Specific areas of focus include concerns about the seed industry. A USDA spokesman says topics to be discussed are seed technology, vertical integration, market transparency and buyer power. One of the main issues centers on use of biotech traits in seed to the advantage or disadvantage of larger seed companies compared to smaller firms. An ongoing legal battle between seed industry heavyweights Pioneer Hi-Bred and Monsanto prompts the focus on seed issues. Pioneer, based in Johnston, and its parent company, DuPont, allege that Monsanto is guilty of using its dominance in biotech traits in seed, particularly those resistant to Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, to dominate the seed market. Monsanto denies the charges, saying it has only a fraction of the seed sales market and that it licenses its traits widely, including to Pioneer. The latest figures show for seed corn sales, Monsanto's DeKalb and American Seed brands have 36% of the market. Pioneer gained two percentage points last year to reach 32% in seed corn sales...read more