Farmers dismayed that USDA delays fair practice rule DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A rule designed to protect the legal rights of farmers who grow chickens and hogs for the nation’s largest meat processing corporations was delayed April 12 by President Trump’s administration, halting by at least six months an initiative rolled out by former President Obama in his final days in office. The rule was first proposed by the USDA in 2010 but met with resistance in Congress and the meat processing industry. It was delayed until the USDA released it in December. Scheduled to go into effect on April 22, the rule would make it easier for farmers to sue companies they contract with over unfair, discriminatory or deceptive practices. Currently, several court rulings have interpreted federal law as saying a farmer must prove a company’s actions harm competition in the entire industry before a lawsuit can move forward. The rule eases that high burden of proof. Many farmers hope Trump’s nominee for agriculture secretary, former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, will act on their behalf, said Sally Lee, program director at the North Carolina-based Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA, a nonprofit family farm advocacy group. Farmer advocacy groups, including the National Farmers Union and The American Farm Bureau Federation, support the rule but trade groups for the poultry and pork industries are fighting it. Man intends to plead guilty in fraud case, records say CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A court filing says a northern Iowa man intends to plead guilty to accusations he kept more than $318,000 paid for the agriculture products he was selling. Richard Wubben of Buffalo Center made his intentions known last week in a U.S. District Court filing. The filing didn’t say whether he’ll plead guilty to the original charge of mail fraud or whether he’s made a plea deal on a different charge. Prosecutors say Wubben sold seeds, farm chemicals and other agriculture products for Titan Pro, of Clear Lake, from October 2014 to Dec. 8, 2015, but never turned over the money to the company. Editor in small Iowa town wins editorial-writing Pulitzer DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A small-town Iowa newspaper editorial writer has won the Pulitzer Prize for taking on powerful agricultural organizations after a water utility sued the paper’s home county and two others over farm pollution. Art Cullen, who owns the Storm Lake Times with his brother, John, says his editorials were about government transparency. The counties sued by Des Moines Water Works secretly received money from agricultural groups to fight the lawsuit and the 3,000-circulation twice-weekly newspaper pushed to lift the veil of secrecy on who was paying to fight the lawsuit. The 59-year-old Cullen says he feels vindicated the information was released and he’s proud of the Pulitzer, which recognized him for “tenacious reporting, impressive expertise and engaging writing that successfully challenged powerful corporate agricultural interests in Iowa.” Southern Indiana library gets $2.3M from teacher’s estate NASHVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A public library in rural southern Indiana is receiving $2.3 million from the estate of a high school business teacher. The money was left to the Brown County Public Library by Tesh Wickard, who lived in Nashville and died in 2014 at age 90. Library officials said Wickard grew up the only child on his family’s farm in the Flora area and taught for many years at Hauser High School near Columbus. He never married and directed most of his estate to the library, other than bequests to a few cousins and friends. Retired library director Yvonne Oliger said Wickard visited the library daily and was a special part of its routine. Wickard specified the money could only go toward building maintenance or expansion, so the library wouldn’t deteriorate. |
