Promotion for ADM's Man at USDA?
Last week we bade farewell to Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns (flatteringly photographed to the right eating an irradiated mango from India) only to find he was being replaced by another big agribusiness champ, Chuck Conner.
Tom Philpott who writes for Grist and his own Bitter Greens Journal blogged on Connor's background in 2005.
From 1997 to 2001, Conner served as president of the Corn Refiners Association. ADM is the dominant corn refiner: As stated above, it buys 12 percent of all field corn grown in the US, the country's largest crop. And it controls a third of the high-fructose corn syrup market, and about a third of the market for ethanol. The corn-refining industry is so highly concentrated that the association has only seven member companies, among them ADM and another shadowy agri-giant, privately held Cargill.
But Conner has been around. Prior to his tenure with the corn refiners, Conner served as special assistant to the president for agricultural trade and Food Assistance in 2001 and was the lead player on the last farm bill. In fact, Connor was also a key staff person over at the Senate when the horrendous 1996 farm bill was written. For more on problems with ethanol and how the current farm subsidies structure benefits big ag at the expense of farmers, check out
- The Farm Bill: Food Policy in an Era of Corporate Power or Farm Bill 101
- The Rush to Ethanol: Not all BioFuels are Equal
- Bottom line: Expect business as usual at USDA
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