MinnPost's Glean and other observers are taking note of West Central Tribune reporter Carolyn Lange's coverage of the latest remarks about American agriculture by House Ag committee chair (ranking member when Democrats are out of power), MN07 congressionman Collin Peterson.
In Rep. Peterson’s dire predictions for the ag sector, a MinnPost staff member wrote in the afternoon Glean:
Plagues of locusts would be a relief. Carolyn Lange of the West Central Tribune covered Rep. Collin Peters
on‘s recent talk in Willmar: “He said the ‘chickens are coming home to roost’ for the ag economy, and they may be roosting for a good long time. ‘I don’t think this thing is going to turn around anytime soon,’ he said. ‘I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am.’ Low crop prices – which Peterson said were brought about by overproduction, the Trump administration’s tariffs and the lack of markets for soybeans because a widespread swine flu is killing millions of hogs in China – has taken its toll on agriculture.”
Sadly, the staff member stopped quoting copy before the next sentence in Lange's article Congressman Collin Peterson makes dire predictions for agriculture:
What Minnesota farmers needed this year was a bumper crop, Peterson said.
Curious that a bumper crop (overproduction) might solve "Low crop prices – which Peterson said were brought about by overproduction . . . "
Moreover, we're curious why lower land prices and lower land rents are to only be considered a horror show. Lange reports:
Peterson predicts that agriculture is heading into an economic cycle that will look like the 1980s, when foreclosures and bankruptcies put thousands of farmers out of business across the Midwest.
“It means foreclosures, it means land prices coming down, it means rent coming down,” he said. “And it could last. It could just be that this winter is the tip of the iceberg and it could get worse.”
Will thousands of farmers go out of business in this new century? Didn't they do that in the last? Or will low land prices allow younger and new farmers--some with differing visions of what agriculture might be from those agribusiness entities-- the large family farm corporations or limited liability partnerships that hoarded acreage, equity and farm payments?
Perhaps lower land prices and lower rents might result in more independent farmers entering agriculture.
Certainly that hasn't been the trend since Peterson joined the House Agriculture committee during the 102 Congress, according to a January 24, 1991 resolution. The Fencepost reported in January 2019's Peterson elected House Agriculture Committee Chairman:
This is the second time Peterson has served as the committee’s chairman, first serving from 2007 to 2011. Peterson, who had previously served since 2011 as the committee’s ranking member, issued the following statement upon his election:
“I am honored to receive the support of my colleagues to serve as Chairman of the Agriculture Committee in the 116th Congress. I look forward to continuing the important work of the committee to address the many challenges facing our producers, our rural communities, and our working families across the country.
“There is no shortage of work to be done. There is a new farm bill to implement, a growing economic storm in farm country to address . . .
Readers may remember that as ranking member, Peterson pushed to have the Republican bill passed, leaving the new Democratic majority to implement that law. AgWeek's Michelle Rook reported on December 17, 2018, Congress passes farm bill; Peterson calls it 'a miracle':
Peterson will become chairman of the House Agriculture Committee with Democrats taking control of the House and so implementation will fall on his watch. He says that process could take a long time.
"It always does. Probably to get all of it done will take a year," he says.
Peterson says he's going to more closely oversee that procedure than he did with the 2014 program.
"One reason is the lobbyists that lose out in the process of writing the bill wait until it's signed and go over to USDA to try to undo parts of the legislation and often they are successful," he says.
Farm groups praised lawmakers for improving the legislation. American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall says the passage is welcome news for America's farmers and ranchers as "it renews risk management tools, foreign market development and environmental stewardship programs that farmers and ranchers need to survive a prolonged and painful downturn in farm income and be sustainable."
In the six months since, Peterson has only grown more dire along with the farm economy. Sad. But maybe overproduction will solve the problems created by overproduction.
Photo: Randall, MN, and vicinty, literally underwater in 1972. Via the Morrison County Historical Society.
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