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Vilsack attends Iowa State Fair

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines Tuesday.  He participated in an agricultural roundtable with agricultural and business leaders.  Topics ranged from E15 to sustainable agriculture to estate taxes to beginning farmers.

Another one of the topics discussed was the proposed GIPSA rules on livestock marketing. Cattle feeder Bill Couser of Nevada, Iowa acknowledged that the GIPSA proposal makes some good points, but feels, overall, they could do more harm than good.

“When we look at the opportunities that we have as cattle people today, we have more options and choices of being to sell these animals, depending on what we want to feed, what we want to feed them, and where we want to sell them,” Couser said. “We feel that we don’t want any more government in here.”

AUDIO: Interview with Bill Couser (5 min MP3)

But in a session with reporters after the roundtable discussion, Vilsack said it’s all about leveling the playing field for livestock and poultry producers, “and how do we make it so that small producers that can produce the same quality are not penalized—that they’re able to play the game and play in the game.

“This is not designed to take away premiums,” Vilsack said. “We still think that those will happen—and they should happen for high quality.  But we just want to make sure that if folks are capable of producing high quality, that they get treated fairly.”

Audio: Tom Vilsack on GIPSA (1:30 MP3)

Later, Vilsack served as an honorary chef at the Iowa Pork Tent and toured the Ag Building at the fair.

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