Economist warns of shrinking seed industry

Iowa State University Economist Neil Harl says a problem bigger than lowcommodity prices is looming on the horizon for farmers. Harl says thefarmers could lose control of their operations. Harl believes seed companieswill merge into two or three companies that will want to control all farmoperations. He says farmers will simply become tractor drivers for the largecompanies. Harl says many politicians are pushing to increase trade to helpimprove the current farm crisis, but he doesn’t think it will work becauseit’s too slow.Harl supports giving the president so called “fast track” trade authority.Harl is considered an expert on the farm economy and played a big role inhelping farmers during the farm crisis of the 1980’s.