Stage set for USDA-DOJ workshop in Ft. Collins

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced the lineup of speakers for its joint workshop with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on competition in livestock markets. The workshop, to be held Aug. 27 in Ft. Collins, Colo., is expected to draw hundreds of cattle producers with wildly divergent views about market fairness. Not only supporters of conventional marketing systems but particularly those who believe the current market structure is anticompetitive and stacked against the independent producer have planned pre-workshop events on Aug. 26. The liveliest part of the meeting promises to be the two open-microphone sessions for the public, one at midday and the other after the final afternoon panel. As with the previous three joint USDA/DOJ workshops, the morning session will be opened by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and DOJ antitrust division chief Christine Varney. The first panel will be moderated by Vilsack and Varney and will include the following panelists: 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., and Alden Zuhlke, rancher, Brunswick, Neb...more