Bluestem Prairie

The Crisis (of credibility): Mike Parry discusses "common sense"; Tom Paine rolls over in grave

These are the headlines that try readers' souls. An urban legend, like hell, is not easily conquered, as Mike Parry's continued campaigning against an imaginary EPA dust rule demonstrates.

One has to hand it to Huckle Media, publishers of the Owatonna People's Press, for at least putting Senator Mike Parry's notion of "common sense" within quotation marks. In Parry discusses ‘common sense’ there's this gem:

“Does it make good common sense for Congressman Walz to vote against agriculture?” Parry asked. “It’s exactly what he’s done. He voted against the Cambodian and Panama trade agreements. That’s about a $9 billion export market for this state of Minnesota.”

Parry said Walz has supported the Environmental Protection Agency, which Parry says wants to control the dust coming out of the back of a combine.

Perhaps Parry should take a refresher course on both his talking points and geography (perhaps he could sit in on one of Walz's guest social studies classes in district schools). Presumably, Parry is talking about the Colombian free trade agreement. Colombia and Cambodia? Close enough, one supposes; they both begin with a "C."

Walz wasn't against agriculture, but concerned about other issues.  The Rochester Post Bulletin reported in October:

Walz voted for the South Korea Free Trade Agreement saying it will benefit farmers in southern Minnesota. But he voted against agreements with Colombia and Panama. He said he has serious concerns about Colombia's human rights record and corruption and instability in Panama.

“I believe that as the leader of the free world, the United States must be guided in its trade policy by our values,” he said in a written statement.

No doubt Parry is guided by his values, too: he's a ALEC member willing not only to allow corporations write the bills he introduces, but to craft fiscal notes for budgets in which work might be outsourced to them. Lovely.

And then there's that complete nonsense about combine dust. Since this is Mike Parry, it's not surprising that he keeps spouting material that was stale in November, as BSP noted in Emo Senator: battling phantom EPA dust menace key to Parry's totally straightforward campaign:

Bluestem agrees that a rule against combine dust would be devastating to farmers. However, far more devastating to the political process is basing campaigns on pure cow flops, as legendary Minnesota politician Magnus Johnson liked to point out about the Republican platform of his time.

Parry is riding that manure spreader. The Washington Post reported in Bill to ban phantom EPA dust rule approved by House panel:

Earlier this year, Republicans found what they saw as an ideal talking point to illustrate a federal bureaucracy gone batty.

The Environmental Protection Agency, they warned, was trying to regulate something only God could control: the dust in the wind.

“Now, here comes my favorite of the crazy regulatory acts. The EPA is now proposing rules to regulate dust,” Rep. John Carter (R-Tex.) said on the House floor. He said Texas is full of dusty roads: “The EPA is now saying you can be fined for driving home every night on your gravel road.”

There was just one flaw in this argument: It was not true.

The EPA’s new dust rule did not exist. It never did.

Still, the specter of this rule has spurred three bills to prevent it , one of which was approved Thursday by a House subcommittee. It sparked a late-night battle on the Senate floor. GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain cited it in a debate as a reason to eliminate the EPA.

The hubbub over this phantom rule — surely one of the most controversial regulations that never was — involved a slow-moving federal agency and a Republican Party with the EPA in its crosshairs.

"Common sense" like that possessed by Mike Parry makes nincompoopery completely redundant.

Photoshop image:  Fiddle-dee-dee on geography and facts, Flouncette O'Parry. Image by Tild

Bonus: Some campaign advice from Weird Al Yankovic:

MF Global update: the Pioneer Press digs up the deets on rural shockwave from distant scandal

On Saturday, Bluestem asked a few questions in How will MF Global brokerage collapse affect Minnesota's farmers and cooperatives?

Yesterday, Tom Weber at the Pioneer Press reported some answers in MF Global fallout hits grain elevators:

The collapse of MF Global is sending shockwaves across rural Minnesota, where grain elevators and some farmers are stunned to find their commodity accounts threatened by the distant scandal.

Although relatively few Minnesotans directly used the trading services of MF Global, the failed derivatives broker played a larger behind-the-scenes role in commodities futures trading. That has spread the fallout from the collapse, and some Minnesotans are alarmed to find a portion of their commodity accounts have been frozen - and seem to be at risk.

"Minnesota's farmers, co-ops and grain elevators trusted this company with their accounts, and it appears that their money was mismanaged and possibly lost," said Democratic U.S. Sen. Al Franken.

In a letter to federal regulators, Franken said Minnesota elevators are worried that those losses "could put them out of business" and that any "large loss of equity for grain elevators would have cascading effects on rural Minnesota's economy, affecting everyone from large cooperatives to small farmers."

Fortunately, Bob Zelenka, executive director of Minnesota Grain and Feed Association, reports that 86% of the money in commodity accounts has been released, although the Pioneer Press reports that he still has plenty of worries.

Read the entire article at the Pioneer Press.

Image: The Octopus from 1882.

How will MF Global brokerage collapse affect Minnesota's farmers and cooperatives?

Update: After checking out this post, a reader involved in agriculture called to share this "Hog Blog" video in which AgStar’s Steve Malakowsky discusses MF Global's bankruptcy filing [Youtube here]. One can infer that swine producers used MF Global and Malakowsky, Agstar's Vice President of Agri-Business Capital,lays out the process for swine producers to move to other brokers. [end update]

A reader suggested that Bluestem look into what the impact of the meltdown of MF Global might be on Minnesota's rural economy. I haven't come up with a definitive answer to this question, but perhaps the business press will look into it.

Here's what I've found so far. Apparently the mega-brokerage not only made a losing bet on European bonds. Client funds are also still missing, the Wall Street Journal reports today. Hundreds of millions.

What does this have to do with farmers and grain elevators? Unfortunately, too much. MF Global not only traded in dubious European bond debt, but in the grain industry as well. MF Global Inc. is a now-suspended clearing member of the MGEX (the Minneapolis Grain Exchange). The MGEX  home page announces the suspension of the firm's trading and clearing privileges, and the transfer of customer accounts to other firms.

At the Progressive Farmer's Market Matters blog, DTN Markets editor Linda Smith writes in Another Financial Meltdown:

MF Global is/was one of the world's biggest brokers for commodities and listed derivatives, providing access to more than 70 exchanges globally as well as over-the-counter products . . .

Funds are transferred hither and yon among this myriad of firms as one finances another.

- These transfers appear to include use of clients' funds rather than keeping them whole and segregated, which currently is legal -- except that it appears upwards of $1 billion is unaccounted for. It is ironic that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission had proposed a rule under Dodd-Frank to not allow using customer funds for its own use, but it was shelved when several companies including Mf Global, requested additional comment time.

Lovely. Perhaps Mike Parry will dig deep within himsef and defend this lack of regulation. Moving on:

The list of the 50 largest nonsecured creditors doesn't include commodity companies, grain elevators or other ag-related companies. But "there will be HUGE ripple effect as folks realize what this really means," said one grain industry source who cleared trades through MF Global and has spent the week shifting accounts to one of the other clearing firms (ABN, Amro Chicago Clearing, ADM Investor Services, Dorman Trading, FC Stone, R.J. O'Brien, Rosenthal Collins Group) and handling the paperwork.

According to Reuters, 50,000 customers have had to move accounts -- and only 60% of the account funds will move with them, so these firms and individuals will have to come up with the balance to keep their margin funds current. Those who can't may be forced to liquidate their positions.

That's right: a 40% immediate loss. While big firms like one privately-held commodity behemoth my source mentioned is rumored to have used MF Global extensively have plenty of cash reserves, individual farmers and small town cooperative elevators working a hedge are not so lucky.

There's nothing publishedthat I can find about Minnesota firms or farmers, but we know MF Global had a seat on the grain exchange, so it's likely some folks in the state are caught up in the aftershocks of this market-rattling event. The Wall Street Journal provides a timeline of the firm's evolution here.

Some scattered sources do suggest that there might be trouble. Reuters reports from our southern neighbors in Iowa farmers feel ripples of MF Global bankruptcy:

MF Global Holdings Ltd's bankruptcy has sent shockwaves through a little Iowa town, where a local broker said he felt a moral obligation to guarantee more than $1 million in funds he placed for farmers at the futures brokerage.

Ken Ries, the 62-year-old owner of Ries Ag Marketing, has been clearing through MF Global and Refco since opening his commodity brokerage and grain dealer in 1987.

In an interview from his home in the farmland outside of Ryan, Iowa, Ries said he might wind up covering client funds -- all from farmers in eastern Iowa -- that have not yet been accounted for. MF Global and its regulators are searching for some $600 million worth of funds that went missing in the chaos of its bankruptcy this week. . .

Reis said calls to MF Global offices have mostly been met by busy signals. When he reached representatives on the phone, they were unable to provide him with any concrete information on when his clients' money would be available.

The bankrupt brokerage, however, transferred 58 percent of his clients' accounts to a new clearing firm, ADM Investor Services, on Friday. Ries is hoping accounts that have cash but no open trades will be transferred over the weekend. . . .

And there's more here at AgWeb's Latest News on the MF Global Bankruptcy Filing. Two podcasts predict a rough row to hoe. Jerry Meyer says MF Global Funds Release, Don't Expect It to be Easy. And Jerry Gulke explains What Happens Now as MF Global Funds Transfer. It's not pretty and Gulke warns that if there are any surprises in Wednesday's release of the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate by the USDA, the grain markets and farmers could be in for a rough ride.

Perhaps more solid news on this development in Minnesota rural economy--prompted by wheeilng and dealing far from the windswept praire and sunny small towns--will emerge in the state's media. Bluestem will keep it's reading glasses on and report back as news develops.

Image: From 1882, the Octopus as a symbol of corporate greed.

Srsly chimerical: Tim Pawlenty joins board of porcine-human organ research company

The Star Tribune and other venues are noting that Pawlenty joins board of technology firm called RedPrairie, but out here on the prairie, Pawlenty has gotten on board with a different sort of tech.

MiroMatrix, set to open a plant in Glencoe's industrial park on October 27, is a regenerative medicine firm that seeks to manufacture human organs for transplant from swine parts:

It sounds like something right out of a science fiction novel - making human organs from pigs - but Robert Cohen, chief executive officer of MiroMatrix Medical, said that is exactly what is planned when the start-up company opens its doors Oct. 27 with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony at the facility in Glencoe's industrial park.

MiroMatrix will be housed in the same building as Midwest Porcine Recovery, which opened its doors in 2010.

The two companies will be working in tandem - Midwest Porcine supplying the raw material and MiroMatrix the technology and know-how.

MiroMatrix is now in the process of finding more investors for its cutting-edge technology, and Cohen sees the potential for the new company as being great. "When all is said and done," Cohen told a chamber of commerce gathering last Friday, "we can make new organs for your body. It sounds like science fiction, but this can actually happen."

The McLeod County Chronicle reports today in Pawlenty joins MiroMatrix's board of directors:

Miromatrix Medical Inc., a regenerative medicine company engaged in the development of commercial products based upon its perfusion decellularization/recellularization technology licensed from the University of Minnesota, announced today that Timothy Pawlenty has joined its board of directors.

The Miromatrix Medical technology has the potential to enable the creation of fully biological replacement organs for the human body. In addition to the Company's internal efforts focused on the development of its first product - a biomesh for hernia repair and breast reconstruction - scientists around the globe are working with the Company's technology and are taking the first steps toward the creation of human organs including the liver, lung, kidney, pancreas and heart.

Miromatrix has enjoyed significant support and cooperation from both the State of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota. The city of Glencoe recently joined this list of supporters by attracting the company to its industrial park, where Miromatrix will move into a new laboratory constructed to its specifications within the facility of one of its primary suppliers.

Following his election to the Miromatrix Board of Directors on Oct. 17, Pawlenty said, "I am extremely excited to join the board of a company that has the potential to improve human health in an historic way within its reach. In my view, Miromatrix likely will be Minnesota's next medical and business miracle."

The company's tissue regeneration technology grabbed headlines in the New York Times in January 2008, but pioneering scientist Doris Taylor was soon shown the door as the government subsidized Miromatrix moved her discovery toward the lucrative biomedical marketplace. Med City News reported in May:

Even as Cohen prepares to raise capital and figure out a new product, he has had to deal with some dirty laundry being aired involving the ouster of Taylor from the company’s board. Cohen declined to comment on the matter, but said that her absence will not hurt the company’s prospects and fundraising efforts. The co-inventor remains on the board.

Miromatrix has already raised $1.4 million in a seed round that included two $250,000 loans from the state of Minnesota. Impressed by Taylor’s success and attracted by the hope that Miromatrix might one day spawn a regenerative medicine industry in Minnesota, state officials provided those loans in 2010. However, the loans don’t place any limits on where the company needs to be based, Cohen said. The company needs to begin repaying those loans in 2015.

The company was seeking $5 million in new funding when the article was published--but Bluestem is guessing that Pawlenty, whose abortive presidential campaign is still drowning in debt, isn't on board to raise private sector money.

Given his campaign videos resemblance to sci-fi blockbusters like Independence Day, maybe he'll be in charge of producing promotional clips. Or maybe it's to snag more government subsidies.

Or maybe it's that dirty laundry? Perhaps Pawlenty's there to make sure the academic scientists don't get too biggety around the job creators. The Star Tribune reported in April's Lavish praise, then a quick ouster for star U scientist:

"Because I'm a scientist and because I'm curious, I asked a lot of questions, and that wasn't particularly well received," she said.

Taylor put her questions, including how the company was spending its limited cash, into writing for a July board meeting.

"We all had what I thought was an open, honest conversation, and I left,'' she said. . . .

Taylor's dismissal occurred during a period of financial instability, according to Peter Bianco, DEED's paid observer of Miromatrix. He wrote last September that the business was on the verge of collapse unless new money could be raised.

In response, DEED provided a second $250,000 loan to attract a matching amount of private money. The cash bought the company time to work on two key unfinished initiatives: introducing its first product, which Cohen wouldn't identify, and raising more money.

Bob Isaacson, who manages business subsidies for DEED, said the level of Taylor's involvement doesn't matter as long as the company has her technology and is moving forward. But experts say that university spinoffs are far more likely to flourish when the founding scientist stays on during the early years. . . .

The MNDaily reported on the July 2010 ouster here. Having underfunded the U for years, T-Paw has a record of putting those research geeks in their place.

Photograph: Nope, kids, MiroMatrix's research isn't like that.

Union, American Crystal Sugar to head back to the bargaining table on October 24

The Fargo Forum reported on Saturday that American Crystal, union to go back to negotiating table:

Negotiators representing American Crystal Sugar Co. and the company’s approximately 1,300 locked-out union workers have been called back to the negotiating table by the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

Mediated talks between representatives for the nation’s largest sugar beet producer and the union will be held at an undisclosed time and location Oct. 24.

Union representatives said they had planned to contact Jeanne Frank, the federal mediator assigned to the case, this week to request another negotiating session. But according to local union officials, the mediator contacted the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union and the company Monday to schedule another round of negotiations, before the union contacted her.

With the lockout dragging on for more than 75 days, impacting productivity and efficiency at company plants and leaving union workers and their families without paychecks, both sides say they hope for a resolution to a costly labor impasse that has impacted local economies and divided communities and households. . . .

Read the rest at the Forum. The Grand Forks Herald takes a look at Drayton, ND, the smallest town with a ACS refinery in Main Street locked out by lockout:

KodaBank on Main Street has been busy refinancing car loans for locked-out union workers at American Crystal Sugar.

Bank President Pete Anderson anticipates he soon will see customers seeking restructuring of home mortgages, too.

“After 90 days without work, there will be some real hardships,” he said.

That’s especially true for workers at the Drayton and Hillsboro processing plants because North Dakota doesn’t award unemployment benefits as Minnesota does. Drayton likely is the hardest hit community proportionally of the five Red River Valley plant sites because its population of 800 is the smallest, about half of Hillsboro’s.

But the 53-year-old Anderson, raised in Drayton and a starting guard for the high school’s last appearance in the state Class B boys basketball tournament, sees a greater harm than lost wages and lower beet payments to growers.

“I’ve never seen anything here that has impacted relationships more than this has,” he said. “Some of these relationships may never be mended.”. .  .

It's not surprising that a community banker might value those relationships. Elsewhere in the Herald, business columnist Ralph Kingsbury observes the consequences of only valuing "comparative advantage" in North Dakota won’t be immune from globalization’s woes:

Globalization. That’s the way they describe it now. When the trend first started, it was called free trade. We were told — and most of us believed — that if only we would let production take place in countries with the greatest “comparative advantage,” we would all be better off. . . .

Globalization has not lived up to its promises. We all know the economies of the world are in precarious shape at best. Read what economists have to say about the problems we face today, and compare their thoughts to those of economists from earlier generations. It’s obvious that today’s economists don’t understand what they have created any better than did the economists at the beginning of the 1900s.

They really don’t seem to understand how to create or sustain demand — and demand is what it’s all about.

It is too early to tell if the anti-Wall Street demonstrations of the past few weeks have depth or staying power. But we can say that the demonstrators are there because of the failures of globalization.

One thing different this time is that many of the people demonstrating are college graduates. Many of them are not getting jobs because they have degrees in areas where the economy finds no value (or at least enough value for the number of graduates).

After all, how many masters of mass communications does an economy need?

How do we as Americans measure success? Certainly many in North Dakota have enjoyed success. But how can we look at the rest of the country and say not only, “We are OK,” but also “We will be all right”?

It's interesting to watch the growing meme that blames college graduate for picking "wrong" degrees for unemployment, rather than holding accountable those who made decisions in the financial sector. It's a blame-the-22-year-olds world. Bluestem suspects this line may become even more popular among our ALEC-fatten politicians than blaming the poor for the follies of the wealthy.

Photo: Locked out workers and vans carrying scabs.

Making bacon: Hormel workers secure raises, higher retirement benefits, better health care

One shibboleth shared by conservative legislators (and the corporations that enable them) in attacks against the middle class is that wages and benefits must be gouged in order for American businesses to remain competitive in a global marketplace.

They then leverage that talking point in attacks on public sector unions--and in class warfare like the lockout American Crystal Sugar is conducting against union workers in the Red River Valley and elsewhere. 

An item in last week's Austin Herald, Hormel union OKs contract, suggests that wet blanket isn't being thrown everywhere on the American Dream:

United Food and Commercial Workers Union members at Hormel Foods Corp. voted to accept new four-year contracts for about 4,000 workers in Austin; Algona, Iowa; Fremont, Neb.; Beloit, Wis., and Atlanta, Ga.

The new collective bargaining deal will mean a base wage increase of $1.50, improvements in health care, improved retirement security and a pension increase.

“The strong contract that we secured with Hormel is a pretty big deal,” said Dick Schuster, a Hormel employee in Fremont, Neb. for 38 years, in a news release. “At a time when pensions are under attack nationwide, we were able to bargain for significant improvements to our retirement security. Our contract is a testament to why sticking together and speaking with one voice benefits all workers.” . . .

. . .“Our communities need good jobs with pay and benefits that can support a family,” said Vincent Perry, a four-year veteran at the Hormel plant in Algona, Iowa, in a news release. “Good union contracts like ours help build more stable and secure communities.”

Not all news coming from the livestock industry is good for rural communities. In an unrelated item, hog rustlers have been stealing pigs from barns in Southern Minnesota and Iowa. Higher hogs prices have made stealing truck loads of market-ready hogs worth the risk. The Des Moines Register reports in Pig thieves are getting 'greedier and more gutsy' in north Iowa, farmer says:

.. .Officials in both states so far are unsure where the hot hogs are being sold and say it's possible they're being trucked out of Iowa or Minnesota.

“It would take a well-organized operation to transport this many animals,” said Marc Chadderdon, an investigator with the Nicollet County sheriff’s office in St. Peter, Minn. “I think they go out and they’re doing their recon ahead of time, and they’re picking these barns for reasons.”

Reed Kuper figures there could be a ring of 10 to 20 thieves involved. He’d love to gather all of them in a room for questioning and play them against each other.

“Then everybody’s going to start squealing,” he said.

Photo: Oink! Union workers are bringing home the bacon for their communities, while hog rustlers are stealing it from farmers.

Sacred local beer worshipped in new documentary, premiers Tuesday in New Ulm

"Volstead Fever: Prohibition in Minnesota," a new documentary about the dry times, will premier tomorrow night in New Ulm's Turner Hall, the Journal reports in Prohibition movie premier Tuesday.

The sacred local brewery that snuggles in the German American Disneyland makes a cameo appearance in the flick:

In April 1923, federal agents tested some Schell's beverages produced under a government permit authorizing cereal beverages containing less than one half of one percent of alcohol.

Agents claimed tests showed alcohol contents slightly exceeded the allowed percentage.

Schell Brewing claimed that if the tests were right, the slight increase was unintentional and due to the light winter and spring beverage demand and that the beverages tests were unusually old.

Schell's was found not guilty of any law violation and charges were dropped by a federal judge.

Schell's Brewmaster Ted Marti said federal agents were at the brewery almost every week back then, checking for alcohol level violations.

Marti and Elmer Rolloff Jr. were interviewed for the PPT documentary at Schell's.

The documentary, produced by Appleton-based Pioneer Public Television (PPT), gave people in Brown County a chance to recall when they ran their own stills south of town. Essig and Springfield were hot spots:

"Lots of moonshine was made on alcohol stills on farms south of Essig and out in the woods, south of the Cottonwood River," Rolloff added.

Alcohol raids were by local and federal law enforcement were common in that era.

"Sometimes, they shot up the bottles on the site," Rolloff said.

A Burnstown Township farm south of Springfield generated an estimated 400 gallons of alcohol a day, according to Dan Hoisington's historical research that appeared on a Lifestyle page of the Sunday, Oct. 10, 2004 edition of The Journal.

A still near Essig that was raided included a large number of railroad cars filled with still equipment, according to Brown County Historical Society files. The property where the still was located was owned by Howard Gimbel, reportedly a member of Al Capone's gang.

. . ."Rum runners had a mail order business on the side....My dad ordered a new Remington 12-guage shotgun that's still in the family," Rolloff said.

Of course, people in Southern Minnesota haven't distilled their own corn, save in ethanol plants, since Prohibition was repealed, despite what readers may have heard or drunk over at the neighbor's place. All of the wisdom gained about making liquor during the Noble Experiment simply vanished with the melting snows in the spring of 1934.

Photo: Andrew Volstead's place in Granite Falls.

American Crystal Sugar lockout update: rally in the TC; former executive sees both sides now

As America heads into the long Labor Day weekend, union workers at American Crystal Sugar remain locked out by management. Minnesotans can show soldiarity by joining a rally and action at Strom Engineering, which supplies scabs to replace those management won't let work.

Via the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation's Facebook page, the skinny on tomorrow monring's action:

American Crystal Sugar workers in Moorhead, East Grand Forks, Crookston, and Chaska, MN, Hillsboro and Drayton, ND, and Mason City, IA showed up to work last week only to find their company has locked them out. Instead of letting 1300 people continue working while a fair contract is negotiated, American Crystal Sugar executives have instead decided to hurt our communities with an unnecessary lockout.

Meanwhile, American Crystal S...ugar has been working with Strom Engineering to hire non-union replacement workers during the shutdown. It’s time to stand up against this injustice.

Join us on Thursday, September 1st from 8:00 to 10:00 AM for a rally and action at Strom Engineering to show solidarity with BCTGM workers.

WHO: Labor partners and allies who want to stand in solidarity with locked out BCTGM workers
WHAT: A rally and action to show solidarity for locked-out sugar workers
WHERE: Strom Engineering, Minnetonka (We’ll meet at the Park & Ride at I-394 and Hopkins Crossing at 8:00 AM and get rides over to the rally site)
WHEN: 8:00 to 10:00 AM on Thursday, September 1, 2011

Please RSVP to or contact Adam Robinson with questions: 651-252-1041 or adam@minneapolisunions.org.

Need motivation to get over there? Go read a fascinating article in the Grand Forks Herald, UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE: Former corporate exec sees different side as locked-out American Crystal worker. Staff writer Ryan Schuster reports:

Gary Watts spoke in a soft Southern drawl as he sat on the couch of his family’s modest rental duplex in a quiet Grand Forks neighborhood.

Watts said he doesn’t regret leaving his once-fulfilling corporate job at Home Depot or moving to Grand Forks to be closer to his wife’s ailing father two years ago.

“It was the best decision I could have ever made,” he said. “It was a real blessing in disguise. This is a good community with great people. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

He also said he has no regrets about his decision to leave a steady job at the J.R. Simplot Co. plant in Grand Forks a year ago to become a campaign worker with American Crystal Sugar Co.

Watts, 48, became a year-round employee of American Crystal’s East Grand Forks plant in July. Less than a month later, he was one of about 1,300 workers in union-represented positions who were locked out of American Crystal facilities by the company on Aug. 1.

Read the whole thing and learn the lessons Watts has experienced as a union member.  The Herald also published commentary by one of the farmers in the co-operative, VIEWPOINT: It’s all about risk, sugar beet farmer says. The article concludes:

. . .The newspapers have been full of stories lately about the labor situation affecting American Crystal and its union workers. Like every other farmer who owns stock in the company, I want to see this resolved fairly for the employees and the company alike.

We put a lot on the line when we bought stock in American Crystal and when we planted our crops this spring. As a farmer, I understand that those investments involve risk. In 2010, things lined up favorably for me and for other sugar beet farmers; in 2011, things will be much less in our favor.

We want a resolution to the labor contract that means that we can keep raising sugar beets when our crop or the sugar market turn against us. This means that we can continue to farm and that we can continue to provide jobs in our factories for our families, friends and neighbors.

Finally in the Grand Forks sister paper, the Fargo Forum, a look at the differences that North Dakota's right-to-work laws make for those locked out by management in American Crystal workers vs. Job Service North Dakota:

The labor dispute between American Crystal Sugar Co. and its unionized workers is at the one-month mark.

Early on in the lockout of the unionized American Crystal workers, it was determined by Job Service North Dakota that workers who are North Dakota residents do not qualify for unemployment insurance benefits. The reason cited is that North Dakota law does not allow a worker to receive unemployment benefits during a lockout situation. Job Service North Dakota administers the state’s unemployment compensation system.

On the other hand, American Crystal workers who are Minnesota residents are receiving unemployment benefits because the law in Minnesota allows workers who do qualify for unemployment benefits to receive them under a lockout.

Right to work

The situation with the locked-out American Crystal workers who live in North Dakota is pretty typical under a “Right to Work” or an ”Employment at Will” law. The employer in North Dakota almost always has the upper hand over an employee when it comes to an employee-employer dispute. . . .

Imagine what this would mean to a man like Gary Watts, who moved to Minnesota to help his wife care for her father, slipping away into Alzheimers. Minnesota politicians like ALEC members Gretchen Hoffman and Steve Drazkowski, both of whom favor the corporate bill factory's anti-worker agenda, would put Watts' family into a position where they'd have to take whatever management was offering.

Photo: Locked out workers.

ACS lockout update: mediator calls union, management back to table; Thur. meeting set

The Grand Forks Herald and other outlets are reporting that federal mediator Jeanne Frank has called unon representatives and management back to the bargaining table. The two sides will meet tomorrow.

Ryan Schuster writes in American Crystal, union will resume talks Thursday:

An end could finally be in sight to the lockout of American Crystal Sugar Co. workers at Red River Valley plants.

A union spokesperson confirmed this afternoon that American Crystal Sugar and representatives for the company’s 1,300 union-represented employees will resume negotiations on a new contract Thursday.

Mark Froemke, a representative for the union, said union and company officials will meet with the federal mediator assigned to the case on Thursday. He declined to disclose the location and time of the meeting. . . .

The negotiations potentially could end the lockout, which has stretched on for 24 days.

Minnesota Public Radio reports in American Crystal, union negotiators to meet Thursday:

. . .A union official says he doesn't expect a quick resolution, but the meeting is a first step in restarting negotiations.

About 1,300 workers have been off the job at five Crystal plants in Minnesota and North Dakota. There are also union workers at sugar shipping and storage facilities in Chaska and in Iowa.

They rejected a contract offer over concerns about health care costs and job security. Since the vote, replacement workers have been on the job, packaging and shipping sugar. Full-scale sugar beet harvest begins in early October. . . .

The GF Herald posted Congressman Collin Peterson's reaction in Crystal workers may be offering changes:

“What we’ve been encouraging is that they get back to the table and get this stuff worked out,” Peterson says, of his own efforts. He says nothing could get resolved if the two sides weren’t talking.

Peterson says he’s been talking – company board members, union people and management – to encourage a resolution. Some of those conversations were as late as Aug. 23.

Peterson says it is difficult for outsiders to really know the key issues in the matter. “From what I can tell is the issue is on management have control over who gets what job, and being able to hire outside people,” he says. He had encouraged the union to come up some language that allows management its needed flexibility but also “tighten” what the union is concerned about.

He says the company has claimed it takes too long – as many as two weeks – to make decisions because of needed union negotiations. The union, on the other hand, says 95 percent of the issues are resolved “in 15 minutes,” Peterson says, acknowledging it is difficult to judge. He said he thought the union was planning to “come forward with some changes” as of today morning. He didn’t know whether this had an impact on the Aug. 25 talks.

Peterson, who is the ranking member of the agriculture committee and a key defender of policies beneficial to beet sugar producers and processors, said some growers had been calling him “worried this (labor issue) would jeopardize authorization of the farm bill,” which is coming up in 2012. “Nothing like that has happened so far,” Peterson says. “As long as we get this resolved in the next month or two I don’t think that’ll be a problem. If it drags on into the winter, it could be a problem.”

Photo: One big pile of beets.

 

ACS lockout update: BEET the Lockout initiative launched for school supplies; more news

As the lockout of union workers continues, families are feeling the pinch as school children get ready to return to the classroom. The Load the Truck/BEET the Lockout initiative has been created to help them out.

Meanwhile, the Crookston City Council is writing a letter to, the head of the union writes, and . In the Cities, the Star Tribune reports that the biggest test of management's wager  has yet to come, as the sugar beet harvest has yet to begin.

The Crookston Times reports in Load the Truck/BEET the Lockout initiative launched:

Organizers of Load the Truck/BEET the Lockout said many families in the area are affected by the American Crystal Lockout. Since school is right around the corner, some are having a hard time trying to get school supplies for their children. The community can help by donating money or any type of school supplies (i.e. backpacks, pencils, pens, erasers, two pocket folders, crayons, school box, glue, scissors).

Starting today, there will be a Load the Truck booth next to the local union headquarters on Main Street (former Rock's Jewelry building) where donations can be brought. Several businesses in Crookston will also have donation jars.

There will also be a Picnic in the Park fundraiser on Saturday, Aug. 27, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Highland Complex, with all proceeds going toward Load the Truck/BEET the Lockout. For $1.50 you'll a hot dog, chips, drink and a cookie.

Bluestem has contacted friends in the labor movemnt to see if there's a way that people who live outside of the Valley can help out.

Elsewhere in the Times, City Editor Natalie Ostgaard reports in City open to writing simple, impartial letter on Crystal situation:

Although the Crookston City Council stopped short of fully supporting a request to send out letters urging both sides to resolve the American Crystal Sugar labor dispute, council members and Mayor Dave Genereux did agree that he would draft and sign a simple, impartial letter to the union and company management.

A large group of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers union members employed by American Crystal attended the council's Monday night meeting to ask – like they're doing in other cities in which they have a strong presence – that the council send a letter to both company management and the union urging both sides to get back to the negotiating table and resolve their differences so the employees can get back to work. The council agreed to take the matter under advisement but made no decision at the time.

After discussing it during the Administrative Committee meeting that followed, however, the consensus was to have Genereux alone sign the letter, modeled after the one signed by East Grand Forks Council members. There was some concern about treading into territory that some might construe as biased.

Read the article at the Times. Ryan Schuster at the Grand Forks Herald reports in Union leader sends letter to Crystal president:

The international president of the union that represents the 1,300 locked out American Crystal Sugar Co. employees wrote a sternly-worded letter to American Crystal’s president last week, imploring him to end the lockout and resume negotiations with the union.

In a letter dated Aug. 18 and addressed to American Crystal president and CEO Dave Berg, Frank Hurt, the international president of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, asked Berg to “immediately end the company’s strike against your workers and meet with their union representatives to negotiate, in good faith, a fair and equitable collective bargaining agreement.” . . .

“I have rarely seen a company act as boldly and unfairly against its workers as American Crystal Sugar,” Hurt wrote in the letter. “Our members have devoted their professional careers to the success of your company and for that loyalty they have had their lives harshly thrown in to turmoil, uncertainty and hardship.” . . .

Brian Ingulsrud, American Crystal’s vice president for administration, said the company had no response to Hurt’s letter. Ingulsrud said the letter won’t change the company’s course in its dealings with the union.

“There really isn’t anything new to report,” Ingulsrud said.

Read the entire article at the Herald. On the paper's oped pages, Gerald Larson writes in a letter to the editor, Cut American Crystal execs’ pay while boosting workers’:

I am a concerned resident of North Dakota in no way associated with Crystal Sugar or the employees’ union.

If the salary figures stated by Scott Ripplinger in his recent column are correct, I think the Crystal Sugar board should offer an explanation to the public as well as to the locked-out employee as to why it is necessary to cut employee benefits when the board is able to increase executive salaries at a ridiculous rate (“Crystal worker calls contract sour, not sweet,” Page A4, Aug. 16).

 

For example, I’m referring to Dave Berg’s salary increase of more than $1 million in a three-year period to a total salary of nearly $2 million. . . .

Check out his conclusion at the paper.

Steve Share of the Minneapolis Labor Review reports via the Twin Cities Daily Planet that Sugar lock-out includes distribution facility in Chaska, frustrated workers. The 19 Chaska workers are a close-knit group:

"It's like a small little family," Lahr said. "They're hunting and fishing together... Most of us are long term employees," he said, with 15-38 years on the job (for Lahr, 36-1/2 years). They know the names of each other's kids. "We've been here a long time."

Read the long piece at the TCDP. The Star Tribune's Mike Hughlett reports in Beet harvest will test American Crystal Sugar's lockout strategy:

It's been three weeks since American Crystal Sugar locked out 1,300 workers in a contract dispute, but the company's biggest economic test of the lockout is still to come.

Weather-related crop setbacks have delayed the harvest, so American Crystal's five Red River Valley plants - while teeming with replacement workers - aren't yet actually processing beets.

When the Moorhead-based company starts up those factories, it will be relying on a relatively inexperienced workforce, upping the risk of production shortcomings, industrial relations experts say.

Ultimately, that risk is borne by the 2,800 growers who own American Crystal Sugar, a cooperative. Their income is partly determined by how efficiently the lumpy beige roots from their fields are transformed into fine white sugar. . . .

Check out the story at the Strib. The Grand Forks paper notes that the run-up to the harvest will be underway in the beginning of next month in Crystal to begin pre-pile lift Sept. 6:

American Crystal Sugar Co. has announced to shareholders that they’ll start pre-pile harvest on Sept. 6 with beet slicing, or processing starting in all of its five factories. In the southern Red River Valley, Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative at Wahpeton will start harvest Sept. 21-22, and will start slicing at its single factory on Sept. 23.

Dan Bernhardson, the farmer-owned co-op’s director of agriculture, said the later-than-normal start is due to lower yield projections. The current projection ranges from 20 tons to 22 tons per acre, which would be the lowest in the past five years. The lowest during that period was 22.3 tons in 2009, and the five-year average is 24.5 tons per acre.

. . .Bernhardson earlier had said recent crop sampling data would likely be a topic for the Aug. 24 regular board of directors’ meeting that is reportedly scheduled in Grand Forks, starting in the morning. The so-called full-scale, 24-hour harvest will start about Oct. 1.

How will the lockout affect the harvest? The Herald reports:

It is unclear whether Crystal’s labor issues will be a part of the board meeting. The board has a sub-committee that is regularly briefed in detail on the labor impasse, which has resulted in a lock-out of 1,300 union workers. It isn’t clear a later processing start will play any part in the settlement of the dispute.

Photo: Sugar workers and their allies march on the bridge between Moorhead and Fargo.

American Crystal Sugar lockout update: sympathy for workers, sympathy for the devil

The lockout of union works at American Crystal Sugar refineries in northwestern Minnesota, while union and management supporters continue their tussling in area newspapers' oped sections.

First, news coverage. In LIFE ON THE PICKET LINE: American Crystal workers keep the faith, Grand Forks Herald business writer Ryan Schuster reports:

. . .“We’re out here 24 hours a day, seven days a week on four-hour shifts,” said locked-out union worker Scott Ripplinger as he picketed outside the American Crystal Sugar Co. plant in East Grand Forks last week. “We’d rather be working. This isn’t about if we want to work or not. We want to work. They won’t let us. We’re locked out.”

The locked-out workers still show up to the plants where they once worked. Unable to return to work, they instead take turns manning picket lines set up outside the gates and watch as replacement workers contracted by the company come and go.

But three weeks into a lockout initiated by company management after union members overwhelmingly rejected the company’s last contract offer, picketing union workers say they are united and remain undaunted.

“I don’t mind being out here,” said Dave Bakke, who has worked at the company’s East Grand Forks plant for nearly 32 years as he picketed in front of the plant this week. “I’m not only out here for myself, I’m out here for everybody else, too.” . . .

Read the rest at the Herald. The article appears in the Fargo Forum as American Crystal workers hold line.

In related news, at WDAY, Charley Johnson reports in No Progress As ACS Lockout Nears 3 Weeks:

American Crystal Sugar union workers have been locked out of their jobs for almost three weeks and Crystal vice president Brian Ingulsrud says the company is standing by its final offer, and hopes the union will reconsider and take another vote on the proposal. . . .

. . .Union sticking points are the company's desire to have them pay a portion of the health insurance premium, and language in the proposed contract that the union says would make it easier for Crystal to out-source some jobs to non-union workers.

Workday Minnesota reports that the community continues to rally around the workers in Pressure grows on  sugar company to end lockout:

EAST GRAND FORKS - The City Council here voted unanimously Wednesday to send a letter urging American Crystal Sugar to return to negotiations with its locked-out workers. "The council recognizes the importance of the facility and the people who work there to our city," city administrator Scott Huizena said. "Obviously, it's a very important part of our economy in East Grand Forks."

The council took the vote after a presentation by AFL-CIO spokesman Mark Froemke who, a night earlier, had asked the City Council in Grand Forks, N.D., to do the same thing. The Grand Forks council did not take an official position but Froemke said several of its members told him they would individually write letters to the company urging it to end the lockout. . . .

Farm Bill 2012: Walz farm listening session and Minnesota Farm Bill Forum open to public

Every five years (or sometimes longer), Congress writes a new Farm Bill, which deals not only with farming, but nutrition programs like food stamps, energy, rural development and conservation programs. Two upcoming events will give citizens a chance to share ideas and learn about the process of writing the bill.

While the USDA's share of the federal budget is only 4.3 percent, the public perceives direct payments to farmers as wasteful; but, in a recent Farmfest forum, some analysts saw little change coming to these programs because "significant number of ag committee members representing the south, such as Texas and Oklahoma" where direct payments are common for crops like cotton and rice. The severe drought Texas is currently suffering makes these committee members pause before asking farmers to adopt major changes in the way they finance their operations.  Another panelist suggested that the new bill will adopt risk management tools, such as crop insurance rather, than continuing direct payments.

Two meetings are coming up in August for people interested in the direction of farm policy. The first is on a farm and geared toward the concerns of farmers; the second focuses on conservation.

From Thom Petersen's August 15 Notes from the Farmers Union:

MFU invites members to attend a public farm bill listening session held by Rep. Tim Walz Friday August 19^th at Warren Krohn's farm near Nicollet from 9:00 to 10:30am.  This will be a general discussion on what farmers feel should be priorities heading into the next Federal Farm Bill. MFU President Doug Peterson will also attend . . .

MFU (I'm a member) is also involved in the Minnesota Farm Bill Forum on August 22 in West St. Paul. From the Izaak Walton League:

Minnesota’s conservation and agricultural leaders will join forces on August 22 to discuss how the 2012 U.S. Farm Bill can better conserve the state’s water, wildlife, and farmlands.

Sponsored by the Izaak Walton League of America – with collaborative event planning by the Freshwater Society, Minnesota Farmers Union, Minnesota Departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the National Wildlife Federation – the August 22 forum is scheduled from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. at the Dakota Lodge, 1200 Stassen Lane, West Saint Paul.  A major component of the event will be a panel of Minnesota agricultural producers discussing what federal farm programs mean to them and conservation on their land.

Featured speakers include representatives from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture; the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources; Brad Redlin from the Izaak Walton League of America, and Gary Botzek with the Minnesota Conservation Federation. Among the topics to be discussed:

• Minnesota farmers’ priorities for the 2012 Farm Bill;
• How the 2012 Farm Bill can help protect water quality and conserve farmlands; and
• Benefits to Minnesota’s wildlife through effective farm policy.

“Every five years, a massive piece of legislation called the Farm Bill determines how tens of billions of federal tax dollars will be spent to shape American agriculture. These sessions will help all Minnesotans – from anglers to farmers – better understand how the Farm Bill impacts our water, air, land and how we can better shape conservation and farm priorities,” said Gene Merriam, Freshwater Society.

The Izaak Walton League of America is spearheading events in five Midwest states – Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin – to discuss the needs and opportunities for the 2012 Farm Bill. The goal is to gain public input from all types of citizens on the effective role of the Farm Bill in supporting an agricultural system that achieves stewardship, prosperity, and fairness.

“That means federal farm policies should support agricultural practices that are good for farmers, good for the environment, and good for America,” said Brad Redlin, agricultural program director of the Izaak Walton League of America (IWLA).

The U.S. Farm Bill sets federal policy for agriculture, energy, conservation, nutrition, and rural development. The last bill, passed in 2008, was called the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 and carried a price tag of $288 billion. In today’s tough economic times, funding for the Farm Bill will be under increased scrutiny, which underscores the importance of public involvement at these initial stages, event organizers explained.

“Conservation Compliance can help ensure that where public money is invested, the public’s interests are protected by requiring basic levels of protections for soil, water, and wetlands. Compliance actions require no additional Farm Bill investment – in fact, they can result in saving federal dollars.” Redlin said.

For more information about the Izaak Walton League of America and the Farm Bill go to www.iwla.org/agconservation. More about Conservation Compliance is contained in IWLA issue briefs:

• The Conservation Compliance Covenant: Issue Brief I
• Conservation Compliance and Crop Insurance: Issue Brief II

The Minnesota Farm Bill Forum is free and open to the public.  To attend, please RSVP by visiting http://farmbill.eventbrite.com or by contacting Gwen Steel at (651) 649-1446.

Photo: Butterfly weed, a native prairie plant that often shows up as a bright spot in conservation programs.

ACS lockout update: IBT big rig rolls into Moorhead; editor sees end of sugar program

Locked out American Crystal Sugar refinery workers continue to picket, and KFGO reports that they received a rolling show of solidarity from Teamsters.

From the article:

Teamsters Local 120 spokesman Donny Walz says the teamsters want to send a message that they fully support the locked-out workers. Union workers at American Crystal have been locked-out since August First. The employees say they want to go back to work, but the company won’t allow them without a formal wage and benefits agreement. 

 

A union representative says there are no signs that the lockout will end anytime soon.

Mike Jacobs, editor and publisher of the Grand Forks Herald, suspects that Crystal’s strategy means danger for sugar program. He lays out the case:

American Crystal Sugar executives must be figuring that the U.S. sugar program is going to end.

That’s the only way to explain their current labor strategy.

The strategy is to reduce costs by cutting jobs. The company has chosen tough tactics, including a lockout of its 1,300 union workers.

All of this adds another element of danger to the sugar program, which is already at risk in Congress.

Crystal’s calculation is both financial and political.

If the sugar program ends, imports of sugar will rise. The price of sugar will go down. American sugar refiners will survive only by becoming more competitive. That means driving down costs. Labor is a very big cost, and Crystal saw the expiration of its labor contract as a way to reduce the work force.

This strategy makes sense for Crystal executives, who work for the growers who own the cooperative. . .

Read the rest. Jacobs concludes that if the sugar program ends, communities in the Red River Valley will take huge hits, but the co-operative and its refineries will survive. It's not a heartening vision and Jacobs doesn't write it as one.

In an earlier letter to the editor, American Crystal lockout a betrayal, pure and simple, Megan Villarreal speaks to the human cost of the strategy:

Everyone knows someone who works at American Crystal Sugar. These are our neighbors, friends and relatives. My grandfather and father-in-law both retired from Crystal Sugar, while my husband and uncle currently are locked out.

It’s very difficult to plan a family get-together when two members of your family work two different shifts, but it has been this way as long as I can remember. We have made it work because Crystal Sugar was a good place to work.

Every dollar made by a Crystal Sugar employee stays in our community.

These dollars help pay for our schools and churches, not to mention huge contributions to organizations such as United Way. . . .

Read the rest at the Herald.

"Hey Joe Talley, backstabbing union workers again?": hundreds protest ACS refinery lockout

A solidarity rally for locked-out American Crystal Sugar refinery workers drew hundreds of people to the streets of Moorhead, Minnesota, the Associated Press and other news sources report.

Via those commies at Forbes, AP's Dave Kolpack reports in Union workers rally against Crystal Sugar lockout:

Hundreds of American Crystal Sugar workers and others showed up in Moorhead with signs, banners and even guitars Thursday in a rally for employees who have been locked out for 11 days.

About 1,300 union workers have been locked out of five sugar processing plants in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa in the company's first labor impasse in 30 years. The largest beet sugar processor in the U.S. had offered a 17 percent pay increase over five years, but workers were upset about provisions covering job security and health care costs.

Management had nothing to say, Kolpack reports, other than word that no talks were scheduled. But the guitar-toting workers had a sing-able message:

The rally started near the company's Moorhead headquarters, where workers chanted pro-union slogans and targeted company vice president and Chief Operating Officer Joseph Talley. "Pink slip Joe," they yelled.

The group walked several blocks to a bridge over the Red River separating Minnesota and North Dakota, where one of at least two guitar-playing marchers, D-Roy Anderson, played the Jimi Hendrix song "Hey Joe." Anderson made up his own version Thursday when he saw buttons and signs about Talley.

"Hey Joe, where you are going with that big knife in your hand? Hey Joe Talley, when you going out and backstabbing union workers again?" Anderson sang.

The Grand Forks Herald has more in Lockout union members, supporters rally in Moorhead:

Several hundred union workers and their supporters gathered at the Moorhead Center Mall about noon today for a rally intended to show support for union members locked out on Aug. 1 by American Crystal Sugar Co.

From the mall, they marched down both sides of the Veterans Memorial Bridge between Moorhead and Fargo, chanting union slogan[s] and carrying signs like one that stated: "Stop the war on workers!" . . .

The Herald's mother ship, the Fargo Forum posted a story and video:

Letters from supporters of the workers have appearing in area papers. Typical headlines, from yesterday's Grand Forks Herald: If sugar industry is protected, why aren’t workers? and What are Crystal executives thinking? and Go hear it from the workers:

One important suggestion that I have for the community is to go speak with the American Crystal Sugar workers about why 96 percent of the voting workers disagree with the contract written by American Crystal Sugar.

The workers explain it best, and they have made themselves available 24 hours a day. Listening to these workers, one would find that the contract impasse is not about money, but rather workplace safety, job security and reasonable health coverage so they are not saddled with excessive health care costs in hard economic times.

In comparison, American Crystal Sugar executives convey the message that they cannot believe workers would turn down such a “fair contract,” but this is a standard public relations ploy from the union-busting consulting firm — Strom Engineering — hired by American Crystal.

It surprises me that American Crystal Sugar would introduce and welcome Strom Engineering into our communities, a firm that according to a Star Tribune article from last Sunday, “has been criticized in the past for hiring ex-cons, misleading job applicants and running grueling, 12-hour shifts seven days a week without so much as a bathroom break.”

It is not the Minnesota way, nor the North Dakota way, to bring firms into our communities that have in place poor labor practices and hire replacement workers who have no connection to the community. . . .

Read them all at the Herald.

Franken talks to management and union representatives

In other developments, local radio KFGO reports in Franken Speaks With American Crystal Sugar President:

Senator Al Franken says the lockout of union workers at American Crystal Sugar is not something he wants to see drag on.

Franken has spoken with Crystal President David Berg and his staff has met with union representatives. Crystal locked-out 1,300 employees on August 1st. The union says contract language and added health care costs are among its primary concerns.

American Crystal Sugar has brought in replacement workers for union workers. Management has also taken on some of the work at Crystal's five Red River Valley Sugar processing plants.

Franken is right; this shouldn't drag on. The company must end the lock out, let the workers go back to what they do best, and join the union negotiators at the table.

A sweet heritage of cooperation

There's something to be said for working together like that, and someone has indeed said it.  In Just a Derm Minute: Union helped build American Crystal Sugar's name, production, profits, an op-ed column published by the Frazee-Vergas Forum, freelance writer John Dermody comments:

. . .The key phrase is "locked out." We have heard daily that workers are "on strike," but, no, they have been turned away. . . .

. . .It is very clear that employees of the co-op want to work. Nobody wants to be idle when scraping to meet the cost of food, shelter, transportation and education-related items. The economic impact on just the Fargo-Moorhead area could be devastating if the lockout continues. . . .

Incidentally, the workers have solidly stood with farmers and the company to work for federal laws that have protected the industry from being undercut by foreign imports. They've worked together on numerous farm bills that have created prosperity for the industry.

Farmers could put some pressure on their own "employees" who sit at high levels within the company. They could tell them, "We don't want to risk losing a bumper crop because replacements from South Carolina don't know how to perform essential tasks.

Let's face facts. The spirit behind co-ops is basically why such agriculture-related organizations as Farm Bureau, Farmers Union, Grange and National Farmers Organization have been created over more than 100 years. Are they unions? Of course not. They have diligently sought a good income for farm families. So why should union workers NOT have good benefits when processing and promoting farm products?

The old Nonpartisan League in North Dakota, along with other groups, made farmers strong enough to fight railroads and milling companies who would have had power over prices paid for grain and the charges paid for shipping by farmers. . . .

Management should stop and think - with "think" being another key word - about how the unity and loyalty of union workers in the past benefited everyone and raised the profit level of American Crystal Sugar by leaps and bounds. . .

This co-operation and sense of community is part of the texture of northwestern Minnesota. That's why the locked-out workers are finding such community support. Why does management want to tear that fabric?

Photo: Workers and allies marched across Veterans Memorial Bridge between Moorhead and Fargo to protest the lockout. Via Facebook.

American Crystal Sugar lockout update: editorials, rally, letters, farmers

Update  Thursday, 8/11/2011: For an update and news about hundreds rallying in Moorhead today, visit "Hey Joe Talley, backstabbing union workers again?": hundreds protest ACS refinery lockout [end update]

Looking around news about the American Crystal sugar lock-out in Northwestern Minnesota, the story hasn't gone away.

The editors of the Crookston Times write in a short editorial: Crystal, union need to start talking again:

Maybe we set the bar too high by asking over the past couple of weeks for American Crystal Sugar management and members of the union to get together and agree on a new contract that is at least reasonably satisfying to all concerned. If that is indeed the case, then this week we’re scaling back our expectations and simply asking that both sides start negotiating again in the hope that the current lockout of the union workers and the employment of the replacement workers end sooner rather than later. Anything is better than nothing, which seems to be what’s going on right now, other than both sides attempting to win the public relations battle through the regional media. Start talking, people; if this drags on too long, decent, hard-working people are going to really start hurting, and that pain will inevitably spread to the communities that they call home.

Workday Minnesota announced that Rally planned Aug. 11 to support locked-out sugar workers:

The rally is scheduled for noon, Thursday, Aug. 11, outside American Crystal Sugar headquarters at 101 N. Third St., Moorhead. Participants will also march to the nearby bridge spanning the Red River between Moorhead and Fargo, North Dakota, then go to Davy/Memorial/Riverfront Park to hear labor leaders and other speakers.

The union plans to run buses to bring members from Drayton, N.D., Crookston and East Grand Forks, said Mark Froemke, a union officer helping to coordinate the effort. Community residents and members of other unions also are scheduled to participate.

Those who cannot attend can show support by signing an on-line petition coordinated by the Minnesota AFL-CIO. More than 3,000 people had signed by mid-week.

“We want to show people they’re not alone,” Froemke said.

In the Grand Forks Herald, the chair of the North Dakota Democrats, Mark Schneider, writes in Sugar beet growers should tell American Crystal to end lockout:

The misguided lockout of American Crystal Sugar workers by management is taking a tremendous toll on working men, women and their families in the valley. The sugar beet industry is, of course, an integral part of the regional economy. American Crystal is owned by the regions’ sugar beet farmers and, ultimately, its managers are accountable to them.

Whatever Chief Operating Officer Joseph J. Talley’s motives are in locking out American Crystal’s own employees, the ultimate authority at American Crystal Sugar is the sugar beet growers themselves.

Beyond the federal subsidies they receive, sugar beet farmers have been blessed in recent years with both outstanding crops and outstanding prices. . . .

Yet, consider the irony: In the sugar beet owners’ name, COO Talley locked out the workers who in North Dakota cannot even receive unemployment benefits. . . .

Read the whole thing at the Herald. The Star Tribune looked at the company that supplies scabs in Strom helps strike back against unions (I suppose the Strib thought it was being clever with that headline, rather than grossly inaccurate in conflating a lockout with a strike):

For more than half a century, a little-known Minnetonka firm called Strom Engineering has provided troops to help companies across the country battle their unions.

American Crystal Sugar sought reinforcements from Strom when it locked out some 1,300 union employees in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa last week. Strom workers have stepped in at a steel mill for nearly a year, replaced striking mechanics at Northwest Airlines and kept a food plant running during a dispute.

To companies that hire Strom, it is an ally that can help their bargaining position merely by drawing up contingency plans for a work stoppage.

Union leaders who have gone up against Strom clients have a different view.

"To us, Strom is basically an outfit that hires mercenaries to basically go in and destroy communities," said Mark Froemke, president of the AFL-CIO's West Area Labor Council and a member of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers union, which represents the sugar beet workers.

Learn more at the Strib. A short report on a local radio station notes that Collin Peterson Concerned With Sugar Lockout:

Minnesota 7^th District Rep. Collin Peterson says he's concerned with the possible implications of the employee lockout at American Crystal Sugar. In the long term, Peterson says it could play a role in sensitive negotiations over the federal sugar program. 

Peterson says he talked with Crystal management a couple of months ago. 1,300 crystal employees in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa are affected by the lockout, now in its second week.

Photo: Locked out workers.

Free Willie? Franken and Peterson support bid to bring annual Farm Aid concert to Detroit Lakes

A small item at the bottom of Queen Miranda reigns over WE Fest, an article in the DL-Online about the  annual country music gathering:

* WE Fest has some friends in high places. Rep. Collin Peterson from Minnesota’s Seventh Congressional District, which includes Moorhead and Detroit Lakes, was out here Friday. Apparently Peterson is a country music fan and a regular at the annual event. Festival owner Rand Levy said Peterson and Minn. Sen. Al Franken wrote letters supporting Levy’s offer to hold a future Farm Aid concert, organized by Willie Nelson, one of Friday’s performers. This year’s Farm Aid will be held in Kansas City. [link added] The event has never been held in Minnesota.

Nelson played We Fest this week; the Fargo Forum reviews the show in No surprise, Willie plays like a legend.

It's a great idea to see if Farm Aid will come to Minnesota. But just shoot me if Peterson's reunited band, The Second Amendments, plays at Farm Aid again, wherever it's held.

Related post: A Second Amendments solution; or, redistricting can't come soon enough

Free-ranging Senator Franken stops for a little piece of pie on the prairie

With the debt crisis bill passed, Minnesota's congressional delegation is out on recess--and Al Franken is using the time to visit Greater Minnesota.

It's no secret the Frankens are pie lovers, so Bluestem isn't surprised to read about this stop in yesterday's Mankato Free Press article, Franken continues trip through Mankato area:

Al Franken’s wide-ranging tour of south-central Minnesota comes to Mankato today following stops Wednesday at Farmfest near Redwood Falls, Lyle’s Cafe in Winthrop and the New Ulm Medical Center.

The Farmfest stop is a traditional one for Minnesota’s elected officials, and the famous pie at Lyle’s explains the Winthrop stop.

Winthrop is just down Highway 15 from Bluestem's national headquarters in Hutchinson.

It's too bad my state representative Ron Shimanski couldn't enjoy some pie with Al at the restaurant just outside Minnesota House District 18A, but the Minnesota Independent reports that the Silver Lake apple grower was headed far farther south.

No wonder constituents like Gus Ziemer send letters with headlines like Party politics caused lawmakers to stray from their duty to the Hutchinson Leader. Heck of a party.

Franken's progress across the prairie demonstrates there's plenty to do in sunny Greater Minnesota and that Al talks fluent Minnesotan. The Marshall Independent reports in Franken talks agriculture at Farmfest:

With a debt ceiling deal reached in Washington, national legislators are coming back to Minnesota. U.S. Sen. Al Franken was present at Farmfest on Wednesday, speaking at the main forum tent and meeting with members of the public. However, questions from audience members at the forum tended to center more around topics like ethanol subsidies and the next Farm Bill.

Franken gave an update on his involvement with agriculture-related issues in Congress. Agriculture is a key part of Minnesota's economy and traditions, Franken said. "I know that in representing Minnesota, a large part of my job is representing you," he told audience members. . . .

The rest of the article is a fascinating read about Franken's fairly technical responses to the questions--but the discourse is pretty familiar stuff out here on the prairie. That gal in the bib-overalls may not have an Ivy League degree like the junior senator, but raise a point about federal farm policy, impossibly complex, and she'll sound like the expert she is. And has to have been to stay in an brutal business.

Franken fits in pretty well with the farmers.

His remarks at the farmshow parallel a column in the ECM chain, Sen. Franken fights for future of Minnesota farmers, which touches on renewable energy and railroad issues. Go check it out.

The West Central Tribune reports in Sen. Franken talks agriculture, debt vote at Farmfest stop:

. . .Dressed in khaki pants, a dark collared shirt and cowboy boots, Franken fit right in during his Wednesday afternoon radio interview with Lynn Ketelsen of the Linder Farm Market.

The Democratic senator, back in Minnesota while Congress is in recess for a month, said he was not pleased with how the negotiations went to keep the country from defaulting on its obligations. . . .

In addition to the radio interview in front of an audience under the Forum Tent at Farmfest, Franken spoke to the crowd there for about 15 minutes about various issues facing Minnesota farmers, including the 2012 Farm Bill that Franken said he hopes is actually completed in 2012.

Franken said that direct payments to farmers and agriculture research could “take a hit” in next year’s legislation. The current farm program includes “direct payments” to farmers that are paid each year on qualifying crops regardless of market conditions, and “countercyclical payments” that are paid only in years when market prices fall below a set level.

“It seems an emphasis is on a safety net program to make sure we keep farmers farming,” Franken said.

As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Franken said he is working on legislation to capitalize on wind energy and give small farms and cooperatives the opportunity to own wind.

Franken also spent time Wednesday at the University of Minnesota tent at Farmfest and meeting his constituents on the grounds of the annual show. . . .

The focus shifted from ag to health care for the New Ulm stop, the Journal reports in Franken talks health care, debt ceiling:

Sen. Al Franken stopped by New Ulm on Wednesday for an update on the status of the New Ulm Medical Center's (NUMC) Heart of New Ulm program.

NUMC Administrator Toby Freier and Heart of New Ulm Community Coordinator Betsy Pieser led a brief presentation on the status of Heart of New Ulm before taking questions from Franken.

The main highlight was a Center of Health Care Innovation at Allina study showing a drop in New Ulm heart attacks and the HeartBeat Connections program that provides health coaching. . . .

. . .Franken said after the meeting that he thought Heart of New Ulm was overall moving in the right direction.

"It's unrealistic to for people to expect an incredible transformation this soon," said Franken, "But, as pointed out, it's doing a good job of bucking obesity trends nationally and in Minnesota."

Health Care

Franken said there needs to be a national push to approach health care like the Heart of New Ulm, which emphasized keeping people healthy as opposed to just treating illness.

Staff writer Josh Moniz covers Franken's reaction to the debt ceiling bill in depth. Definitely worth a read.

Though Franken established himself first as a comedian, it's clear from the coverage that he's growing comfortable in his relatively new senatorial skin, at ease with policy and the wide range of people on the prairie.  Doggone it, we like him.

Can't lose proposition: Governor Dayton opens Farmfest by touting farming to farmers

Circumstances kept me away from this year's  Farmfest. Fortunately, Greater Minnesota's newspapers were there as Governor Dayton kicked off the forums in the usually sweltering big tent at the Redwood County farm show.

Sounds like the governor preached the gospel of ag to the choir.

The Marshall Independent reports in Dayton opens Farmfest; Gov. Mark Dayton gives keynote address at Farmfest on Tuesday:

Following a tradition as old as the event, Gov. Mark Dayton opened the 2011 Farmfest forums on Tuesday in the sweltering forum tent.

"Where else can you be 20 degrees hotter inside than outside?" Dayton said.

Dayton told the audience he was the great-grandson of farmers who moved to Minnesota from New York state. He pointed out agriculture was the second largest economic sector in the state after manufacturing. In Minnesota there are about 360,000 farm jobs, or about one in five of all jobs. . . .

The West Central Tribune reports in Agriculture remains vital component for the state:

. . .The governor told the producers gathered that he wants his office and the state Department of Agriculture to be “attentive and responsive” to producers. He gave out his home phone number, 651-201-3469, and asked producers to call with concerns.

“I can’t give out Dave Fredrickson’s home phone number, but here’s mine,” Dayton said. “It’s just me and my two German shepherds, Mesabi and Wanamingo, but they don’t know how to answer the phone.”

Write your own joke. The New Ulm Journal hits a slightly different note in Dayton promotes farm exports:

Despite cattle, hog and corn prices nearing all-time highs, an air of caution about the future of agriculture pervaded the forum tent as Farmfest '11 began Tuesday.

In a keynote address, Gov. Mark Dayton said he hopes to promote farm exports by leading a trade delegation to South Korea next month and a later visit to China.

Dayton said he will work on streamlining agriculture environmental regulation to make farm expansion easier. . . .

That last note might renew tensions in rural Minnesota that flaired in the "Hog Wars" in the 1990s. Both agriculture and environmental activistics of all stripes should monitor proposals carefully.

AgriNews/Post Bulletin ag reporter Janet Kubat notes in Dayton says farming is important to economy:

. . .It’s tradition that the governor comes to Farmfest, said Kent Thiesse, Farmfest forum coordinator.

Dayton gave a 15-minute speech and answered questions, wiping his brow with a blue folded handkerchief a couple times because of the heat and humidity. . . .

Following his speech, Dayton took a couple of questions from the audience, joking that Thiesse could handle the hard ones and he'd answer the easy ones. He was asked about the budget, beginning farmers, renewable fuels and the state’s regulatory climate.

Dayton plans to travel to Korea and China to promote ag exports to those nations, each paper reports.

Photos: First Lady Mingo Dayton won't take your call, but the governor might (above); Governor Dayton at the Minnesota Farmers Union booth with MFU membership director Bruce Miller (below, photo byGlen Stubbe, Star Tribune)

Hamilton on "Ag Gag" bill: whistleblowers taping animal abuse "just as guilty" of abuse as abuser

Last spring, Representative Rod Hamilton and Senator Doug Magnus introduced so-called "ag gag" bills in their respective chambers that would criminalize photographing, videotaping or audiotaping livestock and farm fields as well as the possession and distribution of these images and sounds. 

A metro paper pointed out that following an early hailstorm of criticism:

Needless to say, this kind of flies in the face of First Amendment law as most people understand it. The bill has been widely ridiculed in the press, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota has deemed the bill unconstitutional.

So maybe it's no surprise that the authors of the bill, Rep. Rod Hamilton and Sen. Doug Magnus, wouldn't speak to City Pages to defend their hideous and unloved offspring.

Months later looks as if Representative Rod Hamilton is still a bit sensitive about  his bill, but at least now he's willing to misrepresent its contents in southwest Minnesota's biggest daily.

In Hamilton responds to letter writer's criticism, published in the July 28, 2011, issue of the Worthington Globe, he writes:

The allegations leveled in a recent letter authored by Jerry Giefer couldn’t be further from the truth.

Mr. Giefer believes animal abuse may (may being the key word here) be happening on our farms, and is upset with a bill I’ve sponsored that would prevent people from tampering at an animal facility.

Producers care for their animals and most have animal welfare policy statements, a thorough training and audit plan in place to address animal abuse and neglect. If a person then chooses to violate the policy and abuse an animal, then that person will be dealt with accordingly.

The problem with a person secretly coming onto a farm and capturing video of an alleged abuser is twofold. One, they break bio-security protocols, which jeopardizes the safety of our nation’s food supply. Secondly, they are just as guilty of animal abuse and neglect, because they do not immediately report the abuse. I think the person who records it and does nothing should be prosecuted along with the abuser. [emphasis added]

This bill protects the safety of the animal and the consumer. . . .

This is a most curious defense of his legislation on Hamilton's part since he mentions "tampering." The Giefer letter objected to a section of the bill with the title "Animal Facility Interference," not the language in the bill addressing tampering.

Here's the relevant language about visual and audio recordings from HF 136:

ANIMAL FACILITY INTERFERENCE.
4.28    Subdivision 1. Prohibited acts. A person who acts without the consent of the
4.29owner of an animal facility to willfully do any of the following is guilty of animal facility
4.30interference:
4.31(1) produce a record which reproduces an image or sound occurring at the animal
4.32facility if:
4.33(i) the record is created by the person while at the animal facility; and
4.34(ii) the record is a reproduction of a visual or audio experience occurring at the
4.35animal facility, including but not limited to a photographic or audio medium;
5.1(2) possess or distribute a record which produces an image or sound occurring at the
5.2animal facility which was produced as provided in clause (1);
5.3(3) exercise control over the animal facility including an animal maintained at the
5.4animal facility or other property kept at the animal facility, with intent to deprive the
5.5animal facility of the animal or property; and
5.6(4) enter onto the animal facility, or remain at the animal facility, if the person has
5.7notice that the facility is not open to the public. A person has notice that an animal facility
5.8is not open to the public if the person is provided notice before entering onto the facility,
5.9or the person refuses to immediately leave the facility after being instructed to leave. The
5.10notice may be in the form of a written or verbal communication by the owner, a fence
5.11or other enclosure designed to exclude intruders or contain animals, or a sign posted
5.12that is reasonably likely to come to the attention of an intruder and which indicates that
5.13entry is forbidden.

There's nothing in his bill that exempts those who tape abuse in order to provide evidence of the crime to law enforcement. Anyone wishing to record animal abuse and neglect to turn in an abuser is just as guilty under the proposed language as the demented person who'd videotape these horrors  for later private jollies.

Had Hamilton wanted to exempt whistleblowers, he could have done so. He did not.  The City Pages looked into the controversy more in Daryn McBeth, agribiz lobbyist: People who photograph farms should be felons. And while McBeth mentions the bio-security concern, that appear to be a secondary issue to this:

Daryn McBeth, the council's president, told City Pages the bill is necessary because existing laws just don't seem to be adequate to keep pictures of what goes on at farms from reaching the public.

"Minnesota has trespassing laws, but that's proving not to be a strong enough deterrent," McBeth said.

Besides, trespassing laws don't do anything to protect against farm workers who take pictures of their own farm's operations. . . .

It's an anti-whistleblower bill along with an anti-trespass and tampering bill.

There's also a section in the bill prohibiting video and audio taping crops, or "crop operation interference" but apparently both Giefer and Hamilton are much less worried about field corn and soybean abuse and neglect.

Bluestem doesn't know of a state statute that makes torturing barley a crime, although the county weed inspectors are seriously on the look out for the sort of neglect that breeds thistles. Nor is it clear why taking photos of cornfields should be a felony.

On Wednesday, Daryl McBeth will be on a Farmfest panel considering "Finding A Common Message for Agriculture," so perhaps someone could ask him what was up about criminalizing alfalfa photo albums.

Jerry Giefer's letter

Jerry Giefer of Worthington wrote in Hamilton, Magnus put own interests first on farms:

Back in April, Rep. Rod Hamilton and Sen. Doug Magnus authored/introduced two bills: (S.F. 1118/HF 1369) that would have criminalized anyone who blows the whistle on animal cruelty, food and worker safety, labor abuses, and environmental crimes etc. These two Republicans were trying to make it a crime to videotape the appalling conditions and abuses that may exist on Minnesota farms and factories.

How is this going to protect us from E.coli- or salmonella-tainted food products? What is happening on these farms that they don’t want you to see? Why is their number-one priority elevating the corporate farm industry above the law, thus guaranteeing them special protections? Shouldn’t their top priority be the protection of workers and consumer safety?

This shouldn’t surprise anyone, since they both list their occupation as farmers. They’re just looking out for themselves at the expense of the majority of their constituents. The people of southwest Minnesota better wake up. The people you elected as your representative/senator are robbing you of your rights as citizens of Minnesota. . . .

Giefer is assuming that conditions are appalling, and frankly, pointing out that Hamilton and Magnus are engaged in agriculture is something of an ad hominem attack. A more recent letter on the bill underscores why.

A conservative farm woman: ethical producers have nothing to hide

In the latest round, Elaine Ahlers, a conservative family farmer, responds to Hamilton that Farmers should have nothing to hide:

In Jerry Giefer’s July 26 letter to the editor, he commented on Rep. Rod Hamilton and Sen. Doug Magnus supporting bills that would-have made it a crime for anyone to videotape conditions on farms and in factories. I generally agree with Republicans on social issues and on budget issues. We need to quit spending more money then we are bringing in in revenue. There should be no new taxes and no increase in tax rates. The only way we should be bringing in more tax revenue should be by people and companies earning more, thus paying tax on more earnings.

However, I did not agree with these bills on videotaping, and my husband and I are also farmers who raise beef when it is profitable. I believe that if you are raising and slaughtering livestock in an ethical manner (which everyone should be), you should have nothing to hide from anyone videotaping your operation. . . .

This is the point made by a number of rural newspapers. Bluestem went a step further in saying in Consumers are stupid: Agri-Growth Council touts Babe in a Blender Restoration Act that consumer information is an important part of the marketplace. Knowing that producers can't hide behind laws that restrict consumers' ability to make informed choices will strengthen confidence in the food supply.

Photo: Representative Rod Hamilton, fudger of facts about his own bill. Shame on him!

Related posts:Consumers are stupid: Agri-Growth Council touts Babe in a Blender Restoration Act

Not getting behind it: ag country daily newspapers reject anti-whistleblowing bill

More greater Minnesota newpapers trash ag whistleblowers bill

Senator Julie Rosen withdraws as sponsor of ag-gag bill

Guest post: Nolan Lenzen takes LSP's beginning farmer message to D.C.

Adapted from a post at Take Action Minnesota's website; republished with permission of TAM.

by Anna Cioffi

In mid-June, central Minnesota farmer and LSP member Nolan Lenzen was in Washington, D.C., carrying a simple, but critical, message: agriculture is a growing and vibrant sector of our nation’s economy, and it provides many opportunities for young producers such as himself. Yet farming is also one of the most difficult occupations to enter. Limited access to markets, hyper land price inflation, high input costs, and a lack of sufficient support networks are just a few barriers new agricultural entrepreneurs face. It doesn’t need to be this way.

Lenzen, a graduate of LSP’s Farm Beginnings program, joined beginning farmers from across the country in a fly-in to meet with agricultural policymakers in Congress and to discuss ways to expand and improve a comprehensive beginning farmer and rancher initiative that breaks down barriers to entry and gives real support to small and mid-scale producers across the country.

As was recently described in a Land Stewardship Letter profile and podcast featuring Lenzen, he started out as a conventional dairy farmer, but soon found himself on a speeding treadmill of mounting debt, an unsustainable workload and dwindling market opportunities. A few years ago, Lenzen transitioned into a grass-based organic system, finding it better for his bottom line, his cows, his family and the environment. Alternative systems like grass-based organic dairying have been a good fit for many young dairy farmers like Lenzen, but these innovative producers continue to face barriers in accessing federal programs designed to assist them with getting started.

If we want to encourage a new generation to pursue a career in agriculture, and to thus create vibrant rural communities, we must design public policy that responds to the unique needs of beginning farmers and ranchers.

Now is the time to begin discussing how good public policy can support the next generation of farmers. Policy makers are already beginning to debate the 2012 Farm Bill, making this a prime opportunity to get the message across to Congress that it has an opportunity to expand and improve comprehensive beginning farmer and rancher initiatives.

The Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, a precedent-setting national initiative, is a big step in the right direction. Congress needs to continue to support and even expand BFRDP and programs like it in the next Farm Bill (click here for a fact sheet on BFRDP and here for a podcast describing the initiative). For more information on other policy initiatives that can help the next generation of farmers, contact LSP’s Policy Program at 612-722-6377.

Anna Cioffi

Anna Cioffi is a Policy Organizer with the Land Stewardship Project, one of TakeAction Minnesota’s 26 organizational members. 

Photo: The Lenzen family, via Land Stewartship Project.