October 2011 Articles

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Just Rambling

Just Rambling: Members of the Louisiana Farm Bureau Poultry Committee spent Monday, September 13th through Wednesday September 15th in Washington, D C meeting with the Louisiana delegation of Congressman, Senators and/or their Legislative Assistants. Those members attending were Ronnie Owens, a breeder hen grower with Pilgrim Pride from Marthaville, La.; Angie Tyler, a broiler grower with Raeford Farms from Dubach, La.; Van Bennett, a former pullet grower with Pilgrim Pride from Spearsville, La. and Ron Harrell, Commodity Director for Louisiana Farm Bureau, Baton Rouge, La. This visit to Washington was the first for the Farm Bureau Poultry Committee. Members of our committee have had the opportunity to visit Washington in the past with various other Farm Bureau groups representing many commodities but not as a Poultry Committee solely committed to advocating for the contract poultry grower. Our intention is to make this an annual event for members of the Poultry Committee to meet and interact with our Louisiana Political delegation and/or their assistants on matters affecting the contract poultry grower. This trip was made to encourage the enactment of some of the proposed new regulations under the Grain Inspection Packers Stockers Act (GIPSA) which, if enacted, can be very beneficial to the contract poultry grower and also to encourage our delegation to rein in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which we feel are over stepping their authority on trying to over regulate water, dust, and greenhouse gases. It is not our intention to hurt the beef or the pork industries but to lobby for portions of these proposed regulations that would have a very positive impact for the contract poultry grower. One of these proposed regulations states if a poultry company (integrator) mandates updates to our farm (which they so often do) then they must pay for them or increase the grower compensation enough to pay for these updates within a reasonable period of time. To often after a grower builds his poultry houses (which are always to company specifications at the time of construction ) costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, the poultry company will come back and mandate updates to the houses before the grower has had an opportunity to make much, if any, principal reduction on his debt. If this happens, what is a grower to do? He has a huge investment in facilities which are specialized facilities (no other use for these facilities other than growing chickens) and his contract is a flock to flock contract or at best, a very short term yearly contract. With the size investment it requires to get into the poultry business the contract poultry grower and his lender need more security in the way of a long term contract to match the amortization schedule of his loan. If the poultry business is to remain viable for contract growers (unless the integrators want all company farms which I don’t think they do) then some changes must be made to level the playing field between the companies (integrators) and the contract grower. After thirty years as a pullet grower and thirty years of employment with the Farm Credit System in a predominantly poultry area I am not naive enough to discount the importance of the poultry company (integrator). We, the contract poultry growers, need the poultry company, a finan-cially sound poultry company, but we need these companies to recognize the importance of their growers and to provide conditions that enable growers to make these investments, repay their loans, pay their operating expenses, and provide a livelihood for their families. Most, if not all growers, realize times are very difficult for poultry companies now with high feed cost and high fuel cost but growers bottom lines have been negatively impacted as well with higher operating expenses, reduced placements, and longer out times between flocks. Since the inception of the vertically integrated poultry business in the early 1950’s it has had a very positive impact on many, many farm families and the ability of our nation to feed itself and other nations around the world. This positive impact can continue and even grow but poultry companies must recognize the importance of their growers, the investments in their farm they have to make and that these grower must have adequate returns on these investments to be able to stay on the farm. With a growing world population and fewer young people staying on the farm it has never been more important to improve growing conditions for the contract poultry growers. I would like to say ―Thank You‖ to the American Farm Bureau personnel we visited in Washington, Kelli Ludlum, Matt Erickson, and Mary Thatcher, for their help to update us on legislative matters before our visits with the Louisiana Political delega-tion. A ―big Thank You‖ is extended to our Louisiana Political delegation, Con-gressman: Steve Scalise- District 1, Cedric Richmond- District 2, Jeff Landry- Dis-trict 3, John Fleming- District 4, Rodney Alexander- District 5, Billy Cassidy- Dis-trict 6, Charles Boustany- District, 7. Senators: Mary Landrieu, David Vitter, and the Assistants to all the above delegation. Not only were we welcomed to every Congressman’s or Senator’s office but had an opportunity to meet with each Con-gressman and Senator or their Assistants to discuss matters important to each and every poultry grower. Van Bennett