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The Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the dates and locations of joint public workshops that will explore competition and regulatory issues in the agriculture industry. The workshops, which were first announced by Attorney General Eric Holder and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Aug. 5, 2009, are the first joint Department of Justice/USDA workshops ever to be held to discuss competition and regulatory issues in the agriculture industry. The all-day workshops, which will begin in March 2010, will be held in Alabama, Colorado, Iowa, Washington, D.C. and Wisconsin.

The goals of the workshops are to promote dialogue among interested parties and foster learning with respect to the appropriate legal and economic analyses of these issues, as well as to listen to and learn from parties with experience in the agriculture sector.

The current schedule for the workshops is as follows:

March 12, 2010 - Issues of Concern to Farmers - Ankeny, IA

This event will serve as an introduction to the series of workshops, but also will focus specifically on issues facing crop farmers. Specific areas of focus may include seed technology, vertical integration, market transparency and buyer power.

FFA Enrichment Center

1055 Southwest Prairie Trail Parkway

Ankeny, Iowa

May 21, 2010 - Poultry Industry - Normal, AL.

Specific areas of focus may include production contracts in the poultry industry, concentration and buyer power.

Alabama A&M University

Auditorium, James I. Dawson Cooperative Extension Building

4900 Meridian St.

Normal, AL

June 7, 2010 - Dairy Industry - Madison, WI

Specific areas of focus may include concentration, marketplace transparency and vertical integration in the dairy industry.

University of Wisconsin

Great Hall, Memorial Union

800 Langdon St.

Madison, WI

Aug. 26, 2010 - Livestock Industry - Fort Collins, CO

Specific areas of focus will address beef, hog and other animal sectors and may include enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act and concentration.

Colorado State University

Fort Collins, CO

Dec. 8, 2010 - Margins - Washington, D.C.

This workshop will look at the discrepancies between the prices received by farmers and the prices paid by consumers. As a concluding event, discussions from previous workshops will be incorporated into the analysis of agriculture markets nationally.

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Jefferson Auditorium

1400 Independence Ave., S.W.

Washington, D.C.

Each workshop may feature keynote speakers, general expert panels, and break-out panels that will address more narrowly-focused issues. At each workshop, the public will have an opportunity to ask questions and provide comments.