If low prices weren't bad enough, farmers are now facing unbelievable costs for gasoline, fertilizer and other energy inputs. Is this a function of low supplies? According to a new study by Public Citizen, it has more to do with consolidation and concentration in the oil industry. 

In a report just released June 1, Public Citizen says, "In the wake of recent oil company mergers, the five companies Exxon-Mobil, Chevron-Texaco, BP Amoco-Arco, Phillips-Tosco and Marathon-- control more than two-fifths of domestic production, nearly half of the domestic refining and more than three-fifths of the domestic retail market." This consolidation parallels intense oil company profits for the first quarter of 2001 where the big five oil companies profits rose nearly 40 per cent. "What we are seeing," Public Citizen says, is the predictable result of a monopoly market. It allows the oil companies to artificially control prices."

Meanwhile, with unregulated consolidation rampant in many agribusiness sectors, farmers are getting hosed at the pumps and the market place. Read the entire story at: http://www.citizen.org/cmep/restructuring/report53001.pdf

The US House of Representatives will be meeting this week to discuss conservation aspects of the farm bill. Please consider taking a moment and calling your representative to ask them to support the Conservation Security Act (CSA) Even if you have contacted them already, please call again; this is an important meeting. Ask to speak with the legislative aid who takes care of agriculture. Tell them Marcy Kaptor (D-OH) and John Thune (R-SD) are collecting names of legislators in the House that would like to co-sponsor this bill. To get the phone number of your legislator or learn more about the CSA go to http://www.familyfarmer.org/sections/action.html

Biotech giant Monsanto is suing the Nelsons, a farm family in North Dakota, on allegations that they violated their contract by saving Roundup Ready seed from 1998 and planting them in 1999. Monsanto alleges that Roundup Ready soybeans were present on more than the 1,500 acres the Nelsons had contracted for in 1999. The Nelsons argue that they had no reason to save seed from 1998, as those seeds had low yield. They contracted for a different variety in 1999 and maintain that any genetically modified plants aside from the 1,500 contract acres must have resulted from contamination or cross-pollination. 

In the end, however, it might not matter how the seed got there. In another lawsuit brought by Monsanto, a Canadian court recently ordered Saskatechewan farmer Percy Schmeiser to pay the company $13,000US in damages, and up to $175,000US in costs. Mr. Schmeiser, who farms conventional seed canola, discovered volunteer Roundup resistant canola plants in his fields.

Despite the fact that there were no allegations that Mr. Schmeiser deliberately planted the Roundup Ready canola or that he benefitted from its presence on his land, the court found in favor of Monsanto. 

The court ruled that "a farmer whose field contains seed or plants originating from seed spilled into them.., may own the seed or plants on his land even if he did not set about to plant them. He does not, however, own the right to the use of the patented gene, or of the seed or plant containing the patented gene or cell." 

In other words, Percy's mistake was to do what he had done all his life - plant the seed that grew in his fields. Given recent evidence that genetically modified pollen can easily fertilize non-GM crops over large distances, Monsanto might someday be able to guarantee a defendant on every farm.

For more info: www.percyschmeiser.com and www.iatp.org

Speaking to the annual Sparks Conference meeting in Washington, DC the new USDA secretary Ann Veneman listed her priorities for solving the crisis of prices in farm country. Heading up the top of the list she cites "an aggressive trade policy, that includes "a new trade round in the WTO, a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), resolving trade conflicts, and aggressively monitoring policies that distort trade."

Veneman went on to say, "A necessary first step is working with Congress to secure Trade Promotion Authority (Fast Track). Agriculture has been a strong supporter of that authority in the past, and I hope we can continue to count on widespread support from the agriculture community." Veneman obviously has not done her homework.

Currently, apart from the American Farm Bureau Federation, virtually all organizations representing family farmers and ranchers oppose fast track trade authority. Notably, these include the National Farmers Union and the National Family Farm Coalition.