Agricultural News
Wiesemeyer Says Obama USDA Marching to the Beat of a Different Drummer
Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:21:14 CST
At the 2010 Ag Issues Forum is underway as a preliminary event to the 2010 Commodity Classic, the leadoff speaker (besides Bill Buckner of Bayer Crop Science- sponsor of the event) was Jim Wiesemeyer, Senior Vice President of Informa Economics. After his presentation, we spent a few minutes with Jim talking about some of the key points he made on Wednesday morning in Anaheim.
Wiesemeyer says that the Democrats are very vulnerable to losing seats in the House and Senate this fall. He says it is possible that the House could switch from Democratic to Republican control, which would mean that Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas could become the Chairman of the Committee. He sees Lucas as similar to Peterson in that both of them are not afraid to speak their minds and have a strong desire to see production agriculture be successful. Saying that, he adds that their would be a different change in style in Frank Lucas steps in as Chairman.
On the Senate side, Wiesemeyer says that the Republicans will have a hard time to win enough seats in 2010 to take control from the Democrats. He says there is an excellent chance that the changing of the leadership in the Senate could happen in 2012 or 2014. If that happens, one interesting dynamic is that Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana could come back from the Foreign Relations Committee leadership to become Chairman of the Senate Ag Committee- bumping Senator Saxby Chambliss from that slot.
We also talked with Wiesemeyer about the mindset of USDA in the Obama Administration, and the lower priority that traditional production agriculture holds within USDA and other agencies. He also refers to a lack of a trade policy from the Administation- and called USTR Ron Kirk the "Maytag Repairman" as he has a lonely job with not much to do.
Click on the Listen Bar below to hear our conversation with Jim Wiesemeyer here in Anaheim at the Ag Issues Forum, sponsored by Bayer Crop Science.
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