U.S. senators ask Justice Dept. to review ethanol
industry mergers (5/23/2002) CHICAGO -(Dow Jones)- A group of six U.S. senators led by Sen. Dianne
Feinstein, D-Calif., asked the U.S. Justice Department Tuesday to review
Archers Daniels Midland Co.'s (ADM) potential aquisition of Minnesota
Corn Processors LLC, a combination the lawmakers said could boost
gasoline prices.
Such a transaction would further concentrate the production of ethanol - a
fuel made from corn that the Senate is trying to bring into greater use -
the lawmakers said in a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns is leading a delegation of state agriculture
directors attending meetings in Brussels, Belgium, with European Union
parliament leaders, ag producer groups, and consumer and environmental
groups.
Cringe for Mr. Bush (5/14/2002) YESTERDAY Mr. Bush signed a farm bill
that represents a low point in his presidency --
a wasteful corporate welfare measure that
penalizes taxpayers and the world's poorest
people in order to bribe a few voters. What's
more, Mr. Bush said he was "pleased" to do
this, and delivered a brief statement
suggesting that he is either dishonest or
utterly ignorant of what he has just done.
The vast majority of people believe that labelling of GM food is essential
and parents remain adamant they would prefer not to feed it to their
children.
Texas, Iowa win with farm bill (5/7/2002) WASHINGTON (AP) -- No states stand to reap more from the new farm bill than Iowa and
Texas, whose lawmakers were the lead negotiators on the legislation.
Iowa, home of Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, would receive $1.7 billion
this year in subsidies for grain, cotton and soybeans, the most of any state, according to an
independent analysis of the bill. That would be an increase of $549 million over what the state
would receive under the expiring 1996 Freedom to Farm law.
From fields to factories (5/3/2002) When Patrick Gruber, chief technology officer at Cargill
Dow LLC, peers into the future, he sees a world made of
corn. Not gaudy structures like South Dakota's Corn Palace,
whose exterior is decorated with thousands of painted corn
cobs, but the stuff of everyday life: T-shirts, socks, milk
bottles and auto parts.
Modified crops go underground (5/2/2002) RECIFE, Brazil -- An illegal but well-known underground market for genetically modified crops is growing fast in Brazil.