Minnesota Farmers Union

St. Paul (March 9, 2010) - On Friday, March 12, Minnesota Farmers Union Vice President Gary Wertish will be attending the Department of Justice and the United States Department of Agriculture's workshop about competition and regulatory issues in agriculture.  The workshop will be held in Iowa at the Des Moines Area Community College's FFA Enrichment Center.

"There is more and more concentration in agriculture these days, which threatens farm families and leads to less price at the farm gate for livestock and grain" said Gary Wertish, Minnesota Farmers Union Vice President.  "Hopefully this workshop will be a first step in getting stricter restrictions on consolidation; more competition; and more price discovery for farmers and consumers."

The goals of the workshop are to promote dialogue among interested parties and foster learning with respect to the appropriate legal and economic analyses of these issues, as well as to listen to and learn from parties with experience in the agriculture sector. There will be a roundtable discussion; a seed dynamics panel; an agricultural trends panel; and enforcer roundtable discussion panel; and then some public testimony.  The Department of Justice's Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Christine Varney will be in attendance, as well as United States Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Attendance at the workshop is free and open to the public. The general public and media interested in attending the initial workshop should register at https://go.dmacc.edu/ffa/agworkshop.

If you would like to know more about the workshop, contact Minnesota Farmers Union Vice President Gary Wertish at 651.262.7128.