Researchers Offer Expertise on Future of Animal Agriculture in America

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Two University of Arkansas researchers are helping to create policies that may affect the food on America's dining room tables for years to come.

Janie Hipp, assistant professor of agricultural law, and H.L. Goodwin, professor of agricultural economics, traveled to Washington, D.C., in December at the invitation of the Farm Foundation for a workshop to discuss the future of animal agriculture in North America, a topic that affects the economy, the environment and the food Americans put in their mouths. As a result of the meeting, Goodwin was appointed to head the food safety/animal health committee, and Hipp was assigned to the environmental regulation subcommittee.

“Agriculture has changed a lot in the last 10 years,” said Hipp, who specializes in environmental issues, labor and community issues, animal health and food safety. “When it comes to food, air and water, we cannot approach the issues in a win/lose manner. We all have to be winners.”

Hipp and Goodwin -- together with researchers and policy makers from industry, government and nongovernmental organizations, other land-grant institutions and community organizations -- gathered to discuss the most pressing issues in animal agriculture today with the goal of hosting a national meeting at the end of 2005. Through this meeting, the Farm Foundation, which specializes in agricultural policy-making, will crystallize some of its key policies before the Farm Bill comes before Congress again in 2007, Hipp said.

“The Farm Foundation likes to look at thorny issues that others cannot address,” said Goodwin, who specializes in environmental issues and community and labor issues. “There are a lot of regulatory issues coming to bear on animal agriculture.” He cited waste management and water- and air-quality issues, land-use regulations, global competition and food-safety issues, to name a few.

“All of these things are converging,” Goodwin said. “The issue now is how can we, as a country, adapt and deal with this in a rational way?”

Global trade markets and animal-safety issues have contributed to a need for animal agriculture to evolve, Hipp said. In particular, concerns over bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad-cow disease, have created infrastructure changes in agriculture at the international level, forcing United States policy-makers to make some tough decisions, Hipp said.

“The dynamics of the whole structure are changing,” she said. The European Union has an animal identification system in place, as do several other countries around the world, that can track animals from birth to the consumer's mouth. Some countries, such as Japan, are moving toward a comprehensive DNA/genetic bank for each animal. While these changes are important to food safety and trade-related issues, they might translate into higher food prices given that the costs of such a system will need to be absorbed in some way, Hipp said.

The United States traditionally has enjoyed low food prices, and consumers may not be willing to pay more for increased food safety.

“Because our whole society has changed so dramatically over the last several decades, we now have many consumers who don't know the route their food must take before it makes its way to their table,” Hipp said. “Our whole society is changing dramatically.”

Hipp said the upcoming conference will address seven different key areas: the economics of animal production, processing and marketing; environmental challenges and opportunities; consumer demand; food safety, biosecurity and animal health; animal welfare; community and labor issues; and global competitiveness and trade.

An example of the complexities involved in animal agriculture comes from a study Hipp and Goodwin are conducting on production contracts in animal agriculture. The poultry industry operates by paying farmers as independent contractors, but recently the Oklahoma attorney general gave an opinion that farmers may be legally considered company employees. This opinion is currently being tested in the courts in Oklahoma. There are those who believe that, should the producers be "deemed" employees, the companies then would have liabilty for pollution from animal wastes generated on farm operations rather than the individual farmers. Hipp and Goodwin are examining the implications of such a ruling, which would require changes in bankruptcy, commercial and labor laws, as well as changes in the way banks do business with farmers.

“If we are going to go in one direction or another, we should go there with our eyes open,” Hipp said.

“I think the intent of the Farm Federation is to act more like a thermostat than a thermometer,” assessing the direction of animal agriculture in America rather than reacting as it happens, Goodwin said. The research panels and conference represent a proactive way to examine future scenarios and suggest policies that will help address potential problems, he said.