GRASSLEY: With dairy prices continuing to hover well below average, dairy farmers are struggling to keep their livelihood.
The Department of Agriculture's gone to great lengths to provide assistance to these producers over several months. Dairy farmers are looking to cut their costs and improve their operations in order to stay afloat.
One of the areas of concern is Roundup Ready alfalfa, which was approved for sale by the Department of Agriculture 2005. Following a 2007 ruling by the Federal District Court of California, all additional sales of products were halted pending an environmental impact statement from USDA.
Nearly three years later, the draft impact statement has yet to be published for public comment. So today I'm urging the department to make an impact statement a priority for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
The 2010 planting season is quickly approaching, and producers should have all available choices at their disposal to help keep costs low.
Dan Looker?
QUESTION: Good morning, Senator Grassley.
The EPA's expected to make an announcement today on E15, and I had a couple questions. I wondered if you've heard anything about what they may have decided.
And, too, I think last week you had mentioned that you thought Congress would step in if the EPA did not approve E15. And if that's the case, do you already have support from your colleagues on the Senate floor in legislation?
GRASSLEY: On the last point, I've had no discussion with anybody of what our next steps should be. I'm just saying that that's the route we have to go if we want to override it.
I would look at other options that are available, because any option available other than writing
legislation would be the direction to go, because legislation's always difficult.
I would urge the president to intervene as one other possibility because of his support for ethanol that was expressed during the election. But I don't know what other possibilities might be. And maybe, consulting with colleagues, there might be even be some reason not to go the legislative route. But I know no other route of certainty if that is the case.
In regard to what we have heard, we have heard nothing, just like you haven't heard anything. I would expect to have a decision today.
Tom Rider?
QUESTION: Good morning, Senator.
Senator, there's been talk that they might delay the decision, that it might come later. What impact does that mean for the ethanol and renewable fuels industry if they do delay it? And is there any way to, you know, spur them to get the decision decided?
GRASSLEY: Well, I can't quantify my own answer that I'm trying to find a quantifiable answer for. But that point would come whether delay would hurt ethanol.
Don't forget: Delay's already hurt biodiesel. But for ethanol there's a date when you get up to the mandate and you can't go beyond the mandate because you can't put more than 10 percent in a gallon of gasoline. And that would be the magic date when it hurt, really hurt.
But the unknown of that may hurt the extent to which plants are thinking about opening, based upon a favorable EPA decision today; and -- and just waiting for some certainty in the marketplace down the road. And -- and that could be harmful to ethanol in an unknown way and unquantifiable way.
Tom Steever?
QUESTION: Good morning, Senator.
I see that Pascal Lamy has opened the WTO ministerial by saying that the -- the proverb, "Unity is strength," should be followed. Have you been following that? And what -- what do you -- how do you take this -- that statement?
GRASSLEY: Well, it's obvious that in an organization that's based upon consensus that if you don't have unity, you don't have anything. So I think it's just a factual statement he's making that's very applicable to the WTO that may not be applicable in any other instance that's quantifiable.
But you've got to remember that this week's WTO ministerial is kind of stock-taking exercise. I don't expect that any intense negotiations will take place there.
In any event, it's clearer that what U.S. agriculture still needs out of the Doha round -- improved market access is -- is the key to whether or not we think it's good for agriculture.
When he gets back, our special trade representative has asked to meet with me, and I assume that we'll have a meeting coming up.
Ken Root?
QUESTION: Good morning, Senator.
GRASSLEY: Good morning.
QUESTION: Agriprocessors' trustee has been sending out letters to anybody that was a cattle producer who sold them livestock in the last 90 days before they went bankrupt. Are you in the loop on that?
GRASSLEY: No, I'm not.
QUESTION: Well, here's the reaction from the Cattlemen's Association. That the letter says that you have to send the money back that they paid you. Or at that point, if you didn't protest, that you could send them 80 percent of the money back.
It seems like it's more of a shakedown by the trustee than it is a logical way of doing business. And it's requiring every one of those cattle producers to get legal counsel. Do you have a response?
GRASSLEY: Well, I think an agency of the federal government that operates under law ought to make sure that they follow the law. And it happens in this instance. The court can do it. Cattlemen can apply for exemptions. They need to talk to their attorneys. So I suppose that -- that, you know, whatever the law is has to be followed, because we're based on the rule of law.
QUESTION: Sir, I agree with that, but if they sold the cattle in good faith, they received the money, they cashed the check, why should they be drawn into that bankruptcy?
GRASSLEY: Well, it may be shortcoming of the bankruptcy law that I'm not up to date on to know the rationale behind the steps that are being taken now against the cattlemen. I just can't answer your question because I -- I don't have that rationale in my head.
QUESTION: Thank you, sir.
GRASSLEY: Dan Skelton?
QUESTION: Good morning, Senator.
GRASSLEY: Good morning.
QUESTION: Apparently, the Obama administration plans to take a look at large U.S. ag companies like Monsanto. Are you familiar with the Justice Department's efforts in this area? Do you have a comment?
GRASSLEY: Well, I have a comment: Only that I expect the Justice Department to make sure that antitrust laws are followed and adequately enforced. I've thought that we've never had enough strong look by the Justice Department at agri industry and agriculture generally, both from the standpoint of monopoly as well as monopsony.
And we need to -- we need to make sure that -- that proper attention is given to agri industry and agriculture the same way it is in any other segments of the economy.
Now, I don't expect people to be punitive just because that hasn't been done over the last several years. It's just a case of making sure that people are on top of enforcing the law.
And in this particular instance I have not been involved, but I have been involved in the past of sending letters there. And, who knows, on this one I may end up sending a letter. But it's not to take sides. It's just to make sure that laws are forced (ph) and that they've got people in Congress overseeing their operation.
QUESTION: Senator, while I have -- have the mike, can I go back to your opening statement on the Roundup Ready alfalfa?
GRASSLEY: Yes. Yes.
QUESTION: This is an issue that's been around for several years. Where does your action come from? Have you had a request to do this?
GRASSLEY: Yes, I have, from the dairy industry. Because, you know -- dairy farmers -- when I say "industry" I meant the production end of dairy. And from that standpoint, you know, they rely upon alfalfa. And they probably get more productivity and save a lot of costs if they could do the same thing on alfalfa that farmers have been doing on soybeans for a long period of time.
QUESTION: Thank you, sir.
GRASSLEY: Yes.
Gary Digiuseppe?
OK, I've gone through the entire list. Does anybody want to jump in that I didn't call? Or anybody have a follow-up?
QUESTION: Do you have any prediction on when EPA is going to come out with their recommendation on ethanol?
GRASSLEY: Well, if it's -- they've got to do it today or they've got to say why they aren't doing it today. And I presume they got to say -- rationale for not doing it today and when they are going to do it. I don't think they have the basis of denying a decision by not making a decision. At least it doesn't show proper guts.
QUESTION: Are you going to hold them to that if nothing comes out today?
GRASSLEY: I'm going to have a comment when it comes out, yes.
QUESTION: All right. Thank you.
GRASSLEY: Thank you all very much.
QUESTION: Thank you, Senator.
END