HF 151

as introduced - 81st Legislature (1999 - 2000) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             memorializing the Clinton Administration and the 
  1.3             United States Congress to cooperate in forming a 
  1.4             federal effort to alleviate the crisis confronting 
  1.5             livestock farmers and commodity grain farmers arising 
  1.6             from a bottleneck between hog and cattle producers and 
  1.7             their consumers, from imbalances in the grain market, 
  1.8             and from concentrations of economic resources in the 
  1.9             food marketing and distribution system. 
  1.10     
  1.11     WHEREAS, the farm crisis is a human tragedy and an economic 
  1.12  calamity, and the farm crisis is not an appropriate platform for 
  1.13  partisan disputes between the President and the Congress; and 
  1.14     WHEREAS, a key component of the economy of Minnesota is 
  1.15  fueled by the work of 10,800 hog producers, 16,000 beef cattle 
  1.16  ranchers, and over 80,000 commodity grain farmers; and 
  1.17     WHEREAS, the sale of hogs and beef cattle in Minnesota 
  1.18  generated gross revenues of over $2 billion in 1997; and 
  1.19     WHEREAS, an efficient free market system, in which American 
  1.20  farmers can be both the most productive and the most sustainable 
  1.21  producers for a hungry world, must not be thwarted by market 
  1.22  bottlenecks between farmers and consumers; and 
  1.23     WHEREAS, supplies of hogs have increased because of a 
  1.24  combination of low feed prices, improved technology and farming 
  1.25  techniques, advances in animal genetics and veterinary science, 
  1.26  the growth of vertically integrated corporate farms outside 
  1.27  Minnesota, narrowing profit margins, expansion of herds in 
  2.1   Minnesota spurred by a reaction to the threat of a moratorium on 
  2.2   new large livestock farms, and a protracted strike at one of 
  2.3   Canada's largest meat-packing companies which may have directed 
  2.4   large numbers of Canadian livestock to packing plants in the 
  2.5   United States; and 
  2.6      WHEREAS, despite dramatic growth in national and global 
  2.7   demand for pork, beef, poultry, and other Minnesota-grown 
  2.8   commodities, the capacity for processing this livestock has been 
  2.9   impeded by the acquisition and closing of many slaughterhouses 
  2.10  by their competitors; and 
  2.11     WHEREAS, this concentration of meat-packing plants has lead 
  2.12  to the loss of slaughtering capacity of 37,000 hogs per day 
  2.13  since mid-1997; and 
  2.14     WHEREAS, this barrier between farmers and consumers has led 
  2.15  to the lowest prices received by livestock farmers in nearly 
  2.16  three decades; and 
  2.17     WHEREAS, extremely low market prices for livestock have 
  2.18  drained enormous amounts of equity from the operations of 
  2.19  farmers across the country, and the continuation of the 
  2.20  meat-packing constriction threatens to force large numbers of 
  2.21  livestock farmers out of business; and 
  2.22     WHEREAS, the meat-packing squeeze also threatens severe 
  2.23  economic consequences on other segments of the economy of the 
  2.24  United States, including soybean and grain producers who supply 
  2.25  feed for livestock, feed dealers, trucking firms, farm lenders, 
  2.26  and businesses in rural America; and 
  2.27     WHEREAS, the harm caused to the free market for livestock 
  2.28  by the acquisition and closing of meat-packing plants may be 
  2.29  mirrored in the market for commodity grains by the proposed 
  2.30  merger of Cargill, Inc. and the grain unit of Continental Grain 
  2.31  Company, are two companies that control in excess of 40 percent 
  2.32  of all United States corn exports, 34 percent of soybean 
  2.33  exports, and 20 percent of wheat exports; and 
  2.34     WHEREAS, the Minnesota Legislature will endeavor to assist 
  2.35  state farmers through the rebate of property taxes, the rebate 
  2.36  of the farmers' portion of a tax surplus of over $1 billion, the 
  3.1   reduction of unnecessary regulation, and the use of its 
  3.2   influence to persuade meat-packing plants, grain processors, 
  3.3   food distributors, and farm lenders to use their best efforts to 
  3.4   assist farmers throughout this crisis; and 
  3.5      WHEREAS, the power to alleviate this crisis rests primarily 
  3.6   with the federal government through enforcement of the antitrust 
  3.7   laws to resolve bottlenecks between farmers and consumers, as 
  3.8   well as through policies to expand the use of livestock for 
  3.9   foreign food assistance and school nutrition programs, to expand 
  3.10  the daily slaughter capacity of meat-packing plants, to expand 
  3.11  exports of American foodstuffs, to exercise credit forbearance 
  3.12  under the United States Department of Agriculture loan programs 
  3.13  for livestock and commodity grain producers who face an equity 
  3.14  or cash-flow crisis, to urge all federal banking and financial 
  3.15  institutions to exercise patience and forbearance in working 
  3.16  with producer clients during the crisis, to make the Emergency 
  3.17  Disaster Loan Guarantee Program available to livestock and 
  3.18  commodity grain producers facing an economic disaster, to create 
  3.19  and structure emergency relief which does not exclude Minnesota 
  3.20  farmers, to use its best efforts to encourage an end to the 
  3.21  Canadian meat-packing strike, and to refrain from the use of 
  3.22  food as a weapon in international relations; and 
  3.23     WHEREAS, both the Clinton Administration and the Congress 
  3.24  have failed to pursue fully those policies which could have 
  3.25  prevented, minimized, or alleviated the crisis facing livestock 
  3.26  farmers, commodity grain farmers, and the companies which work 
  3.27  with farmers; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  3.28     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  3.29  that it memorializes the President and the Congress of the 
  3.30  United States to cooperate in the creation of policies to 
  3.31  resolve the crisis confronting livestock farmers, commodity 
  3.32  grain farmers, and their suppliers and customers; and 
  3.33     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the President and the Congress 
  3.34  cooperate to revise and expand the $50 million emergency relief 
  3.35  program for hog farmers, which currently excludes almost all 
  3.36  Minnesota farmers, who produce about ten percent of the nation's 
  4.1   pork; and 
  4.2      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the President and the Congress 
  4.3   cooperate to take all necessary measures to investigate the 
  4.4   concentration of market power in the meat-packing industries.  
  4.5   Close scrutiny also should be applied to past mergers and 
  4.6   proposed mergers which may distort the markets for commodity 
  4.7   grains.  To the extent that antitrust laws may have been 
  4.8   violated, the President and the Congress should take all 
  4.9   necessary measures to enforce those laws; and 
  4.10     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the President and the Congress 
  4.11  cooperate to take all necessary measures to increase daily 
  4.12  livestock slaughter capacity in the United States and to 
  4.13  encourage more actively an end to the Canadian meat-packing 
  4.14  strike; and 
  4.15     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the President and the Congress 
  4.16  cooperate to take all necessary measures to expand exports of 
  4.17  American foodstuffs and the purchase of meat for foreign food 
  4.18  assistance and school nutrition programs; and 
  4.19     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the President and the Congress 
  4.20  cooperate to take all necessary measures to grant credit 
  4.21  forbearance under the United States Department of Agriculture 
  4.22  loan programs for livestock and commodity grain producers who 
  4.23  face an equity or cash-flow crisis; and 
  4.24     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the President and the Congress 
  4.25  cooperate to take all necessary measures to urge all federal 
  4.26  banking and financial institutions to exercise patience and 
  4.27  forbearance in working with producer clients during the crisis; 
  4.28  and 
  4.29     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the President and the Congress 
  4.30  cooperate to take all necessary measures to make the Emergency 
  4.31  Disaster Loan Guarantee Program available to livestock and 
  4.32  commodity grain producers facing an economic crisis; and 
  4.33     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the President and the Congress 
  4.34  forswear the use of food exports as a weapon in the conduct of 
  4.35  international affairs; and 
  4.36     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the President and the Congress 
  5.1   review and, as appropriate, revise the Freedom to Farm Act in 
  5.2   order to create the best competitive climate for profitable, 
  5.3   productive, and sustainable agriculture in the United States; 
  5.4   and 
  5.5      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  5.6   State of Minnesota be directed to prepare copies of this 
  5.7   memorial and transmit them to the Secretaries of Agriculture, 
  5.8   State, Commerce, and the Treasury of the United States, the 
  5.9   President of the United States, the President and the Secretary 
  5.10  of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the 
  5.11  United States House of Representatives, and Minnesota's Senators 
  5.12  and Representatives in Congress.