Lawyer has become rural America's 'new antitrust cop,' filing suit against agribusiness concentration

Kansas City lawyer Dan Owen, left, could have a major impact on the agriculture business if the antitrust suits he's filed are successful. Bill Bishop of the Daily Yonder reports two suits are "aimed at both the economics and politics of the food industry." A potential third suit would "challenge the way meat packers are buying live cattle at auction."

The Obama administration appeared ready to challenge the increasing centralization and concentrated of agricultural production by large companies with industrial-style farms,  announcing it would conduct a "wide-ranging investigation" to see if it violated antitrust laws. Hearings were conducted and speeches made, but nothing of substance ever happened, Bishop reports. Activists turned to the private sector for help, and no one, Bishop writes, "has taken up the cause more fervently than Owen." He has become "the new antitrust cop on the beat in the food business."

His first suit seeks to keep money collected through the beef checkoff program from going to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. For 26 years, the Department of Agriculture has collected $1 per head of cattle sold for a fund to promote beef industry, and almost all of the $1.6 billion collected has gone to the NCBA, which Owen claims has violated the terms of the  program.

The second suit concerns price fixing in the fertilizer business, particularly among potash producers. Five companies control 70 percent of the world's potash supply, and prices have increased to $1,000 a ton from $140. Owen's suit claims potash companies "conspired to close mining operations in order to manipulate supplies and prices," Bishop reports.

Bishop reported last week that the USDA issued a report concluding that "there are so few cattle sold at auction that there was no way to determine a fair price for beef." Most cattle raisers were selling according to a formula created by meat packers, which left prices up to large companies. "The report says, to us, that cattle raisers no longer have power in the markets. ... Instead of a competitive market, there is a 'dictatorship,'" Bishop wrote.

Owen said he's started investigating the way livestock is purchased. He received complaints from cattle raisers who said they were receiving only one bid at auction, Bishop reports, and Owen said he's investigating "whether packers are avoiding bidding against each other by divvying up feed lots." He's discovered a study in Utah that concluded half of all feedlots sold to one buyer, and is continuing to investigate. (Read more)

Feds have guide to help rural areas with economy

Rural communities now have access to a guide outlining federal funding that's a available to help with economic development. The Federal Resources for Sustainable Rural Communities guide contains information about how rural places can protect healthy environments, improve infrastructure and provide useful services to residents.

The guide also includes information about funding and technical assistance available to rural communities from the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency. Rural Development Undersecretary Dallas Tonsager said during a speech in Lincoln, Neb., "Creating great places to live, raise families, provide recreational opportunities and infrastructure for high paying jobs in rural America is very important ... This publication will provide easy, one-stop access to federal funding sources." To see the guide, click here.

High court says inmates can be counted in home voting districts, which are mostly urban

States can now count prison inmates at their last known address instead of their prison address for election redistricting purposes, according to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The decision upholds a districting map the Maryland General Assembly drew last year, David Hill of The Washington Times reports.

Activists had sued the state claiming the map violated the Constitution because it differed from the U.S. Census Bureau's policy of counting inmates at their prison address. “Critics of the federal policy say it has artificially inflated the populations and voting power of the often-rural districts that contain prisons, while reducing the influence of urban areas where many inmates formerly lived," Hill writes. Critics said prisoners don't use the resources of the prison's district, and should not be counted in those districts as a result. Some argued the map disenfranchised black voters and Republicans.

Maryland is one of four states that counts prisoners at their home addresses. The others are California, Deleware and New York. The ruling is expected to benefit Baltimore most since it has steadily lost residents and legislative seats, Hill reports. But, remote areas of Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore are likely to suffer because they "benefited in redistricting from numbers provided by inmates," Hill writes. (Read more)

Officials of Western states want to keep possibly endangered species off federal list; scientists say alternatives won't protect the animals

"Candidate conservation agreements" are plans to keep an animal or plant species from being placed on the federal endangered-species list to prevent restrictions on land use that includes habitat of the species. Keeping dwindling species off the endangered list through these agreements is a growing trend in the West, where the fate of more than 1,000 species will be decided by 2018 under settlements between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and two environmental groups, Joshua Zaffos of High Country News reports. (HCN photo by Noppadol Paothong: endangered-list candidate Gunnison sage grouse)

Fish and Wildlife had a backlog of species to be considered for listing, and WildEarth Gaurdians and the Center of Biological Diversity filed lawsuits and listing petitions to speed up the process. Those groups have agreed to curtail those after the agency agreed to process the backlog. Zaffos reports wildlife managers have to determine if the conservation agreements are "producing meaningful results" before the agreements between the agency and environmental groups can affect listings.

Scientists and environmentalists are questioning "on-the-ground benefits" of candidate conservation agreements, Zaffos reports. Some agreements require landowners and users to "continue current practices and preserve existing vacant habitat without trying to restore populations or address major threats," he writes. College of Idaho professor Eric Yensen told Zaffos the agreements can "prevent poisoning, shooting and similar responses," and ease reintroductions. But, they don't stop habitat loss or development, Yensen said. Despite that, Fish and Wildlife plans to extend conservation agreements, and is accepting public comment on the how to improve them through July. (Read more)