Fresh Produce Discussion Blog

Created by The Packer's National Editor Tom Karst

Friday, February 12, 2010

Supervalu selling Conn. Shaw’s markets


Supervalu selling Conn. Shaw’s markets

By Donna Goodison
Friday, February 12, 2010 - Updated 1h ago

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Supervalu Inc. is selling all 18 of its Shaw’s Supermarkets in Connecticut, the Minneapolis company announced today.

Supervalu said it’s reached agreements to sell 11 Shaw’s stores to individual owners and five others to Quincy’s Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. It is still seeking buyers for two more stores in the Nutmeg State.

“‘While these decisions are always difficult, given the impact on associates and customers, they ultimately allow us to operate more efficiently and effectively within a highly competitive retail environment,” Pete Van Helden, Supervalu’s executive vice president of retail operations, said in a statement.

The sales are expected to close this spring. The West Bridgewater-based Shaw’s will continue to operate 176 stores in five New England states.

Arizona Sheriff, U.S. in Standoff Over Immigration Enforcement - WSJ

Arizona Sheriff, U.S. in Standoff Over Immigration Enforcement - WSJ

An Arizona sheriff said he planned to defy Washington's attempts to roll back his staunch enforcement of federal immigration law, a move that could put him on a collision course with the U.S. government.

Late last year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the largest arm of the Department of Homeland Security, stripped Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio of the authority to use 100 of his deputies to enforce federal immigration in his jurisdiction, which includes Phoenix. The customs agency took the action because Mr. Arpaio's aggressive immigration crackdowns had drawn criticism from human-rights groups and had run afoul of the U.S. Justice Department, which is investigating whether he has used racial profiling and abused his authority.

In an interview this week, Mr. Arpaio said he would ignore Washington's effort to clip his powers and would train all of his 881 deputies to enforce federal immigration law on the streets.

"We have the inherent right to enforce federal immigration law," Mr. Arpaio said. "If Washington doesn't like it, I recommend they change the laws."

Asked about Mr. Arpaio's plans for reinstating street-level immigration enforcement, an ICE spokesman in Arizona said: "Sheriff Arpaio's efforts to conduct immigration-enforcement actions do not derive from any ICE-delegated federal authority."

The dispute stems from a provision called 287g, a federal program that enlists and trains local police to identify suspected illegal-immigrant criminals in jails and on the streets. The program was intended to target serious criminals. However, it was criticized for promoting racial profiling and serving as an excuse for local law-enforcement officers to hunt down illegal immigrants. Mr. Arpaio gained notoriety for his tactics.

The Obama administration sought to rein in the 287g program as part of a broader effort to retool the ICE, which became known in recent years for raiding companies and rounding up illegal workers. The administration has been taking steps to tone down the agency's image as a hard-edged enforcer.

When it attempted to curtail Mr. Arpaio's authority, Washington limited his deputies' ability to verify the immigration status of people in the streets during the course of duty. The deputies still retain the authority to check the status of people booked into Maricopa County jails.

"Since the Department of Homeland Security took away 100 of our federally trained deputies…we are going to train every sworn deputy to teach them how to enforce state and federal immigration laws," the sheriff said in a telephone interview.

The course, which will mainly be taught via computer, will equip deputy sheriffs to "recognize…immigration violations" in the course of duty, Mr. Arpaio said.

Mr. Arpaio has partnered with Kris Kobach, a law professor who has gained prominence as a national advocate for stricter measures against illegal immigrants.

Mr. Arpaio said "we don't engage in racial profiling." He noted that the training for his deputies would include a lesson on how to avoid the practice.

Corn, Soybean, Wheat Prices May Slip in Next Decade (Update1) - Business Week

Corn, Soybean, Wheat Prices May Slip in Next Decade (Update1) - Business Week
February 11, 2010, 04:25 PM EST
More From Businessweek

y Alan Bjerga

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Corn, wheat and soybean prices will decline on average from their peaks during the next decade as new seed technology boosts yields, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The price paid to farmers for a bushel of corn, the most- valuable U.S. crop, will peak at $3.90 a bushel for grain planted this year and fall to $3.65 by 2018, the USDA said today in an annual 10-year baseline forecast. New seeds from Monsanto Co. and DuPont Co. will help produce 14.6 billion bushels in 2019, 11 percent more than the current season’s record harvest, estimated at 13.2 billion bushels on Feb. 9.

“We’ll see variations to prices much greater than what the baseline says, because baselines tend to follow straight lines,” Daryll Ray, who directs the University of Tennessee’s Agricultural Policy Analysis Center, said in a telephone interview before the forecast was released. “We’re seeing increasing productivity and increasing demand.”

Corn, wheat and soybeans are all down at least 8 percent this year on forecasts for record crops. Last year’s soybean harvest rose to a projected 3.361 billion bushels, the department said Feb. 9. Wheat reserves will reach 981 million bushels this year, the most since 1988.

Price Outlook

Corn’s average price for the year that began on Sept. 1 is estimated at $3.55 a bushel in today’s report. The price was forecast to average $3.70 in the Feb. 9 report, based on more recent data.

Soybeans, which the USDA on Feb. 9 estimated to average $9.45 a bushel for the current crop, may fall to $9 next season and reach $9.25 by 2015, declining to $9.20 by 2020. Wheat will peak at $5 a bushel in the marketing year that begins June 1, dropping to $4.75 by 2016. Upland cotton will rise from 56 cents a pound this marketing year to 64 cents by 2020.

As much as 35 percent of annual corn harvests will be used to make ethanol through the next decade, according to the report. The alternative fuel will consume about 33 percent of the crop in the current marketing year, the USDA said on Feb. 9.

The area planted with corn last year, which the department forecast at 86.5 million acres (35 million hectares) on Feb. 9, will peak at 90 million acres next year and fall to 89 million acres by 2019, the USDA projected.

Planting Estimates

Fields planted with soybeans, which the USDA earlier this week placed at 77.5 million acres in 2009, will fall to 73.5 million acres by 2011 and stabilize at 76 million beginning in 2014, according to the forecast.

Wheat plantings, estimated at 59.1 million acres for 2010, will fall to 53.5 million acres in 2019, the USDA said.

Farmers will plant 9.15 million acres with upland cotton this year, according to the department’s report earlier this week. Fiber acreage will increase to 10.9 million acres by 2018, the USDA said today.

The projections in the baseline forecast are based on data gathered from October through December. The study assumes normal weather and no major pest or disease outbreaks.


--Editors: Ted Bunker, Steve Stroth.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Bjerga in Washington at +1-202-624-1857 or abjerga@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at +1-312-617-8952 or sstroth@bloomberg.net.

Traceability: Is One Standard the Cure? - Food Safety News

Traceability: Is One Standard the Cure? - Food Safety News
by William Pape | Feb 12, 2010
"What the traceability industry needs right now is a single traceability standard".

This underlying theme was echoed in a number of presentations from several speakers at the recent Traceability Inter-Operability conference hosted by the Traceability Institute in Denver a few weeks ago. The main barrier to widespread traceability adoption by the food industry, these presentations argued, was the lack of a single traceability standard which could exchange traceability data seamlessly from one company to another throughout all their trading partners in a supply chain.

Unfortunately, each speaker was talking only about the traceability standard that their company commercially offers, and their implicit message was "If only everyone would speak my language, all companies in the food supply chain would be able to communicate and this industry would begin to rapidly grow." In other words, the presenters wanted all of the other solution providers in the audience to abandon their traceability solution and jump on the presenter's bandwagon--"my way or the highway".

This argument and this conference took me back to the early 1980's when I attended similar data interoperability conferences about how banks should be working together to begin electronically process credit cards. At that point in time, credit cards were handled manually rather than electronically. Many of you are old enough to remember the time when, at retail check-out, the store's cashier would put your credit card in a flat-bed device, nicknamed a "click-clack" machine, then put a receipt form on top of the credit card, and finally slide the click-clack machine's lever from one side to another, making an impression of the credit card and the merchant's information on the two-part paper form. After signature, the top paper copy was given to the customer and the bottom, cardboard copy was retained by the merchant and processed by the banks the same way they processed their checks at some later date.

In the early 1980's, the banks knew there were compelling reasons to process these transactions electronically in near real-time rather than wait many days to enter into their system, but they couldn't agree how to process and exchange this information. So, they held a number of conferences where each solution provider or "wanna-be" central data switch presented the arguments about why their company should be the one and only company to provide this electronic data interchange service and why their data standard was the only one that would work.

Not only wasn't a single standard adopted in the early 1980's, but each time you use your credit card today, it is likely to route through many different networks, each with a different data standard, and still be able to provide an approval or decline in a matter of seconds. In fact, there are over 64,000 different data standards and hundreds of different networks in existence among the global banking industry but to almost all consumers it appears as a single system.

Flash forward to 2010 and the Traceability Inter-Operability conference. The messages at this recent conference were the same as those at the early banking conferences thirty years ago--"Adopt a single traceability provided by my company and everything will be perfect."

From our perspective, this proposition is flawed on at least four levels. Firstly, there is the assumption that the lack of a clear interoperability standard is retarding the growth of traceability within the food industry. Secondly, this assertion assumes that a single standard will result in the best solution. Thirdly, there is assumption that a single traceability company will win all the chips. And fourthly, that full transparency of all traceability information equally shared with all trading partners is a good thing.

Based upon our experience in the global credit card industry, we believe each of these assumptions is false.

The growth of traceability companies is not being impeded by a lack of traceability interchange among companies because most companies haven't even taken their internal traceability conversation to that level. They are only concerned about internal traceability within their four walls, and they think they have already solved this problem with their one-up supplier and their one-down customer so they don't need the help of a third-party traceability supplier. Unfortunately, as we've discussed many times in this column, this belief is usually not anchored in reality and each time we've done a traceability audit with a food company, small or large, we've found glaring holes that would create serious problems for the company with the government regulators during a high profile recall. Even if most companies had flawless internal traceability, they don't have traceability data inter-operability on their radar.

Will a single standard from a single solution vendor be the best solution? In our strong opinion no single standard will meet all of the needs of every member of a single supply chain much less all supply chains. In the early 1980's we tried at my previous company, VeriFone, to push a single standard and got nowhere. Each bank wanted a different twist on the common theme and no single standard was going to work. The only way that we broke the logjam was to finally acknowledge that many solutions were going to need to bloom, each working within a loose, minimalistic standard.

The argument is likely to be made that the credit card example isn't the best model for food traceability data interchange because technology has changed today. This argument, which I've heard for many years, actually argues against a single standard because with today's technology it is so much easier for many different networks to bloom which can use modern middleware technology to inter-connect appearing as a seamless single network, but, in reality, being many interconnected networks.

So, if a single traceability standard promoted by a single company isn't the answer, what is going to work?

First, there has to be a realization that no single company and no single standard is going to win all the chips. Just as with the credit card system, each company, each supply chain will have its own unique objectives for a system and these objectives will be different even though there will be at least one common objective--being able to provide at the appropriate time an e-Pedigree for ownership of all the ingredients in a product from the retailer all the way back through all upstream processors to the first mile producers of all raw products used in a specific finished good.

To accomplish this objective, there are only a few "standard" things that need to be accomplished:

1. Agree on a numbering standard or a small set of numbering standards.
2. Agree on the minimum data elements that must be included by all players to create the e-Pedigree ownership traceback.
3. Agree how e-Pedigree data about upstream suppliers beyond one's immediate supplier must be kept confidential until these data are needed during a high-profile recall.

Yes, these are standards, but they are very minimalistic and skinny standards, and are the skeleton upon which many traceability solution vendors can hang added value services, and distinguish themselves among other traceability solution providers.

When principles similar to these three were applied to the credit card industry in the early 1980's, the electronic authorization and settlement of credit cards did begin to rapidly grow.

Let me conclude by strongly complimenting the newly formed Traceability Institute for organizing this important conference, and providing the forum for discussing this next important step. Providing education to food companies and providing unbiased leadership for the several companies offering traceability solutions is critical for our industry especially given that relatively few food companies have truly solved their internal traceability challenges much less begun to think about traceability data interchange with their trading partners.

As I noted during the conference, the true competitors at this point in time of companies offering traceability solutions are not the other companies offering traceability solutions, but the complacent food companies that think they have already solved the traceability issue only to find when they become involved in a high profile food recall that their systems fall far short of the mark, and their company is badly damaged or even destroyed. Working together through the Traceability Institute and other vehicles, traceability companies can be successful by identifying the minimalistic standards that will be needed for inter-operability, acknowledging they will not be the only winners, and then developing the specialized services that differentiate themselves from other service providers.


Further information can be found at www.tracegains.com.

Supermarket Chains Predicted to Continue to Dominate Food Sales - International Supermraket News

Supermarket Chains Predicted to Continue to Dominate Food Sales - International Supermraket News
Thursday, 11 February 2010 13:50 News

Supermarkets chains have gained a position of dominance in the retail sector over the years. The growth of supermarkets has been linked to the growth of consumerism. From their start in the USA, supermarkets have spread across the globe. The growth of the industry has
helped the successful supermarket chains to become leading retailers of the world. South Korea, China, India, and Indonesia, from the Asia-Pacific region show promising future growth in the retail supermarket industry. Within the supermarket industry, discount supermarkets are increasing to take a greater share. The trend has been specially noticeable recently, mainly due to the growing consumer preference for cost-effective, price competitive products as they attempt to reduce their expenses in the economic downturn. Consumers are presently spending less, and more of them are seeking better value for money.

The recession has made consumers change their eating habits, and has seen them move from restaurants, and more are cooking at home. This has created a bigger demand for semi-prepared, packaged food products at supermarkets. With more meal planning by consumers it has created more opportunities for foods that have been overlooked, such as, condiments and spices, food flavours, finishing touch sauces, dressings, oil, fresh fruits and vegetables, and meat, among others. Supermarkets are making the most of this by pushing their lower cost, private labeled brands at the growing number of customers looking for cheaper meal options. Consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers are also pushing their innovations onto supermarket shelves which has seen growing number of customers visiting the food aisles.

Chain supermarkets have been dominant in the supermarket sales of food products, and are predicted to keep their market lead through 2015, as stated by the new market research report on supermarkets.

The main players dominating the marketplace include Aeon Co Ltd, Aldi Inc, Auchan, Carrefour Group, The Casino Group, Coles, Costco Wholesale Corporation, E Leclerc, Edeka Group, Intermarché, The Kroger Co, Rewe Deutscher Supermarket KGaA, Royal Ahold NV, Safeway Inc, Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd, Sears Grand, SUPERVALU Inc, Tengelmann Warenhandelsgesellschaft KG, Tesco Plc, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, and Woolworths Limited., among others.

Tesco Chief Slams Ombudsman Plans- Reuters


Tesco Chief Slams Ombudsman Plans- Reuters



By REUTERS
Published: February 11, 2010

LONDON (Reuters) - Government plans to introduce a watchdog to settle disputes between supermarkets and suppliers could hurt consumers, the chief executive of Britain's biggest grocer, Tesco , told the Financial Times in an interview.

The competition watchdog asked the government last year to establish an ombudsman after a majority of retailers failed to agree on a voluntary arrangement.

But the Financial Times reported that Tesco's head, Terry Leahy, attacked the proposals, saying the consumer benefited from the positive level of competition between retailers.

"Everyone knows supermarkets are one of the most competitive industries around. That competition puts power in the hands of the consumer," Leahy said in the paper's Friday edition.

"An ombudsman would be there to protect suppliers but should be there to protect consumers," Leahy said.

The competition commission conducted an investigation between 2006 and 2008 and found that the strength of Britain's top four grocers -- Tesco , Asda , J Sainsbury and Morrison -- has helped to keep food prices down for shoppers.

But there are concerns the consumer could suffer if retailers squeeze suppliers to the extent that they can't afford to invest in products or to innovate.

Leahy told the paper Tesco had a good relationship with its suppliers.

"We rely...on our suppliers to provide safe food," he said. Britain's opposition Conservative party has backed calls for an ombudsman and the ruling Labour party is expected to announce a decision soon.

(Reporting by Caroline Copley; Editing by David Gregorio)

Wall Street Chokes On Mixed Profits From Restaurants - Investors.com

Wall Street Chokes On Mixed Profits From Restaurants

op-rated restaurant operators failed to live up to rave reviews late Thursday, as weak-to-mixed results sent their shares lower.

High-end fast-food and casual sit-down chains have been strong market performers in recent weeks, despite a weak economy. Americans appear far more willing now to eat out than they were a year ago. Restaurant consumer sentiment is the best since before the recession, according to a new RBC Capital Markets survey.

"The good news is that consumer debt is coming down," said Darren Tristano, executive vice president with restaurant industry consultant Technomic. "So there will be more room on those credit cards to eat out."
Workers prepare burritos at a Chipotle Mexican Grill in New York in December. Chipotle's Q4 profit shot up 90%, but the restaurant chain's sales...

Workers prepare burritos at a Chipotle Mexican Grill in New York in December. Chipotle's Q4 profit shot up 90%, but the restaurant chain's sales... View Enlarged Image

But high unemployment, pricey gasoline and other factors are still keeping many potential customers home. Restaurants that are packed on Friday and Saturday nights for instance, are often deserted Monday through Thursday, Tristano notes.

Buffalo Bombs

Sports-bar chain Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD) missed on the top and bottom line. Q4 sales climbed 20%, to $145 million, short of the $148.8 million analysts had expected. Earnings per share climbed 7% to 46 cents, a nickel below views. Buffalo Wild's shares tumbled 13% in late trade.

Chipotle Mexican Grill's (CMG) Q4 profit shot up 90% to 99 cents a share, smashing views by 18 cents. But the 12% sales gain to $387.5 million missed forecasts slightly. Chipotle shares sank nearly 4% after hours.

Panera Bread (PNRA) met profit estimates for a 13% gain to 95 cents a share. Revenue edged up 3% to $366.9 million, topping views. Panera shares slid 3% late.

Results were mixed for casual sit-down restaurants as well.

BJ's Restaurants (BJRI) said Q4 profit fell 8% to 12 cents a share ex items, though that beat views by a penny. Higher expenses hurt the pizza and brewery chain. Revenue rose 13.5% to $112.6 million. BJ's does not expect consumer spending on eating out to recover in 2010. Its shares gave up 4% late.

Cheesecake Factory (CAKE), known for its big portions and extensive menus, said earnings sizzled, rising 87% to 28 cents a share, ex items. But sales were essentially flat at $400.6 million, just below views. They've been little changed for five quarters. Cheesecake shares also were flat after hours.

Sit-Downs Didn't Cut Prices

Despite lukewarm results, casual sit-down restaurants such as Cheesecake and BJ's were able to weather the downturn and a sour consumer because they protected their brand image, said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Steve West.

Feinstein to seek increased irrigation deliveries to farmers - McClatchy

Feinstein to seek increased irrigation deliveries to farmers - McClatchy

By MICHAEL DOYLE AND E.J. SCHULTZ
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein is roiling California water politics with new plans to override scientists and boost irrigation deliveries to San Joaquin Valley farms.

Urged on by Valley farmers and lawmakers, Feinstein on Thursday made public her hopes of tacking a California water-delivery amendment onto an upcoming Senate jobs bill. The details remain closely held, but Feinstein said her intention is to provide farmers with up to 40 percent of their normal allocated amounts.

Currently, farmers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are scheduled to receive only 10 percent of their allocation.

"I believe we need a fair compromise that will respect the Endangered Species Act while recognizing the fact that people in California's breadbasket face complete economic ruin without help," Feinstein said Thursday.

Feinstein discussed the water delivery issues Thursday in a conference call with the Westlands Water District and others favoring more irrigation deliveries to farms. Once made public, the conversation raised alarms among skeptics who fear unintended consequences and weakened environmental protections.

Environmental Defense Fund analyst A. Spreck Rosekrans, echoing several other environmental advocates, cautioned that "we're very concerned" about a maneuver that appears to exempt certain irrigation decisions from a key environmental law.

"A political judgment on the science seems unwarranted," Rosekrans said.

The current water cutbacks are due to a combination of the previous year's drought and diversions to protect endangered species.

In order to increase irrigation pumping, Feinstein and her allies must find a way around two "biological opinions" that govern federal water allocations. A Fish and Wildlife Service biological opinion issued in December 2008 protects the Delta smelt. A National Marine Fisheries Service opinion issued in June 2009 protects steelhead and salmon.

At the behest of Feinstein and others, the National Research Council already is reviewing the two California water biological opinions. The initial assessment is due in early March.

Feinstein and her allies are considering rewriting part of the biological opinions to mandate the delivery of more irrigation water. Feinstein on Thursday cited a precedent from 2003, when Congress did something similar to assist Albuquerque's water supply.

In public, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., has been citing the Albuquerque-vs.-silvery minnow example for many months. The rhetoric has been heated at times, and Feinstein in September led the Senate rejection of an amendment ostensibly modeled on the 2003 case.

Behind the scenes, though, Reps. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., and Jim Costa, D-Calif., have been pressing similar points. On Thursday, Costa said the new language being drafted would be different from what Nunes had proposed.

"To be stuck with a 10 percent water allocation is just unfair," Costa said.

But American Rivers senior vice president Andrew Fahlund warned that increasing water pumping to Valley farms "could be the end of the West Coast salmon fishery," and angry environmental negotiators on Thursday threatened to walk away from broader California water talks convened around the Bay Delta Conservation Plan.

The group effort includes public agencies, farm groups and environmentalists who seek consensus on a new water conveyance system around the Delta.

Ann Hayden, a senior water resource analyst with the Environmental Defense Fund, said Feinstein's proposal would weaken short-term species protections and make long-term planning difficult.

"We're thinking about possibly suspending our participation in the process until and unless adequate protections are in place," Hayden said.

Doyle reported from Washington; Schultz, a reporter for The Fresno Bee, reported from Sacramento, Calif..

China Launches Food Safety Commission - Food Safety.net

China Launches Food Safety Commission
by Helena Bottemiller | Feb 11, 2010
In the wake of another melamine milk recall and a recent food safety crackdown, China's state council has set up a high-profile food safety commission to address the nation's food regulatory problems.

Yesterday the Chinese government announced that the commission will consist of three vice premiers and a dozen minister-level officials. The group aims to improve government coordination and enforcement and to solve systemic food safety problems.

"The reemergence of the tainted milk products is a sign that China's food safety system is far from perfect," Professor Wang Yukai told official Chinese media yesterday.

"With a powerful vice premier in charge of coordinating the government departments in dealing with food safety issues...the new commission is expected to spot problems with China's current food safety system and to solve them before they lead to tragedies," added Wang.

As part of its ongoing effort to find and destroy any melamine-tainted milk remaining on the market, the Chinese government announced Monday that it was recalling 170 tons of milk powder laced with the industrial chemical.

The tainted milk was supposed to be destroyed or buried in 2008--after it was tied to the deaths of six infants and around 300,000 illnesses--but authorities recently found that the product been repackaged and placed back into the marketplace.

The government effort to remove remaining tainted milk from store shelves was set to end yesterday. It remains unclear whether recent findings or the launch of the food safety commission will cause authorities to extend the campaignon/

NJ schools, colleges brace for state aid cuts - NorthJersey.com

Friday, February 12, 2010
The Record
STAFF WRITERS

Education leaders in North Jersey said Governor Christie's decision to freeze state aid midyear could lead to college tuition hikes, property tax increases and school staff cuts in the fall.

Christie said Thursday he would withhold $475 million in promised state aid to schools and $62 million in aid to public colleges and universities to help balance the current state budget. But school superintendents said the plan unfairly shifted Trenton's mismanagement and budget woes onto the backs of local taxpayers.

"We anticipate some serious budget shortfalls as a result of this decision," said Paramus Superintendent James Montesano. "You're not going to make up budget deficits by cutting out Crayola crayons," he said, adding that staff reductions are a "very real possibility" before school opens next fall.

The governor said his cuts — done with a scalpel, not an axe — were painful but necessary due to the state's fiscal crisis. He said cuts were tied to the surpluses carried by each district or college, and no recipient would lose more than its surplus.

Many districts put aside a maximum of 2 percent of their budgets to pay for emergencies, such as leaky roofs, broken pipes or midyear enrollments by special-needs students who require expensive placements. Beyond those rainy-day funds, any "excess surplus" goes into easing the next year's budget.

The Christie administration said districts that are carrying excess surpluses will not get that amount of state aid this fiscal year, which ends June 30. The state will also withhold aid amounting to 25 percent of districts' reserves targeted for capital improvements, maintenance and emergencies, administration officials said.

That means most districts won't get a portion of the remaining aid payments they expected; more than 100 will lose all state aid for the rest of this fiscal year.

Bernard Josefsberg, superintendent in Leonia, said his district had created a successful program for children with special needs that generated more tuition than expected from sending districts. Due to Christie's plan, the district would not be able to use that revenue in the coming year's budget to hold down the tax burden on Leonia residents.

"No good deed goes unpunished," he said. He disputed Christie's pledge of "not one textbook left unbought, not one teacher laid off."

"Jobs will be lost here in Leonia as a result of my inability to recover through higher taxes the $400,000 hole created in next year's budget by the loss of this year's surplus," he said.

In Passaic, the surplus is used up by dealing with the vagaries of funding for special education programming, said Superintendent Robert Holster. Nearly a quarter of the city's 13,000 students get some kind of special services.

"I'm sensitive to the governor's concerns," said Holster. "I agree that we have to go on a diet, but does it have to be a crash diet?"

Adam Fried, superintendent of Harrington Park, said his district, like other efficient ones, would be penalized for creating an excess surplus by sharing garbage service with the town and even renegotiating the price of toilet paper every month. He said the aid cut — which totals nearly $130,000 — was a harsh blow on top of the budget strains the district already faced, including a 25 percent increase for health benefits this year.

"You're making school districts bleed and that's not good for children," he said.

The plan to cut $62.1 million in funding to the state's public colleges and universities is likely to trigger more hikes in a state where public tuition already is among the highest in the nation, averaging $11,000 annually at the four-year schools.

In December, Christie met with higher education leaders and slammed what he called eight years of Democratic neglect. He promised that their schools would be a priority in his administration but warned that near-term cuts could be in the offing.

"We knew this was going to be a tough budget," said Paul Shelly, spokesman for the New Jersey Association of State Colleges.

Last year, the Legislature imposed a one-time cap of 3 percent on tuition increases at the schools. Rutgers, the state university, has had several cutbacks and layoffs in the past several years. In a statement Thursday, the university called the cuts an "additional hardship."

The state's 19 community colleges will not get $8.9 million in funding they expected for the remainder of this school year. At Bergen Community College, it means a cut of about $600,000 that will make it harder to avoid tuition increases, said President Jerry Ryan. Deeper cuts and tuition hikes are likely in September, Ryan said.

Staff Writer John Reitmeyer contributed to this report. E-mail: brody@northjersey.com and alex@northjersey.com

Education leaders in North Jersey said Governor Christie's decision to freeze state aid midyear could lead to college tuition hikes, property tax increases and school staff cuts in the fall.

Christie said Thursday he would withhold $475 million in promised state aid to schools and $62 million in aid to public colleges and universities to help balance the current state budget. But school superintendents said the plan unfairly shifted Trenton's mismanagement and budget woes onto the backs of local taxpayers.

"We anticipate some serious budget shortfalls as a result of this decision," said Paramus Superintendent James Montesano. "You're not going to make up budget deficits by cutting out Crayola crayons," he said, adding that staff reductions are a "very real possibility" before school opens next fall.

The governor said his cuts — done with a scalpel, not an axe — were painful but necessary due to the state's fiscal crisis. He said cuts were tied to the surpluses carried by each district or college, and no recipient would lose more than its surplus.

Many districts put aside a maximum of 2 percent of their budgets to pay for emergencies, such as leaky roofs, broken pipes or midyear enrollments by special-needs students who require expensive placements. Beyond those rainy-day funds, any "excess surplus" goes into easing the next year's budget.

The Christie administration said districts that are carrying excess surpluses will not get that amount of state aid this fiscal year, which ends June 30. The state will also withhold aid amounting to 25 percent of districts' reserves targeted for capital improvements, maintenance and emergencies, administration officials said.

That means most districts won't get a portion of the remaining aid payments they expected; more than 100 will lose all state aid for the rest of this fiscal year.

Bernard Josefsberg, superintendent in Leonia, said his district had created a successful program for children with special needs that generated more tuition than expected from sending districts. Due to Christie's plan, the district would not be able to use that revenue in the coming year's budget to hold down the tax burden on Leonia residents.

"No good deed goes unpunished," he said. He disputed Christie's pledge of "not one textbook left unbought, not one teacher laid off."

"Jobs will be lost here in Leonia as a result of my inability to recover through higher taxes the $400,000 hole created in next year's budget by the loss of this year's surplus," he said.

In Passaic, the surplus is used up by dealing with the vagaries of funding for special education programming, said Superintendent Robert Holster. Nearly a quarter of the city's 13,000 students get some kind of special services.

"I'm sensitive to the governor's concerns," said Holster. "I agree that we have to go on a diet, but does it have to be a crash diet?"

Adam Fried, superintendent of Harrington Park, said his district, like other efficient ones, would be penalized for creating an excess surplus by sharing garbage service with the town and even renegotiating the price of toilet paper every month. He said the aid cut — which totals nearly $130,000 — was a harsh blow on top of the budget strains the district already faced, including a 25 percent increase for health benefits this year.

"You're making school districts bleed and that's not good for children," he said.

The plan to cut $62.1 million in funding to the state's public colleges and universities is likely to trigger more hikes in a state where public tuition already is among the highest in the nation, averaging $11,000 annually at the four-year schools.

In December, Christie met with higher education leaders and slammed what he called eight years of Democratic neglect. He promised that their schools would be a priority in his administration but warned that near-term cuts could be in the offing.

"We knew this was going to be a tough budget," said Paul Shelly, spokesman for the New Jersey Association of State Colleges.

Last year, the Legislature imposed a one-time cap of 3 percent on tuition increases at the schools. Rutgers, the state university, has had several cutbacks and layoffs in the past several years. In a statement Thursday, the university called the cuts an "additional hardship."

The state's 19 community colleges will not get $8.9 million in funding they expected for the remainder of this school year. At Bergen Community College, it means a cut of about $600,000 that will make it harder to avoid tuition increases, said President Jerry Ryan. Deeper cuts and tuition hikes are likely in September, Ryan said.

Staff Writer John Reitmeyer contributed to this report. E-mail: brody@northjersey.com and alex@northjersey.com

Michelle Obama: Let's move

Feds restrict 15 farm lenders

Feds restrict 15 farm lenders

By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI

Capital Press

The federal government is more closely scrutinizing the operations of 15 farm lenders due to the deterioration of their credit rating.

Of the 15 lenders that the Farm Credit Administration has placed under special supervision, four have been subjected to enforcement actions by the agency.

The administration oversees institutions within the Farm Credit System, a network of 95 lenders across the U.S. charged with serving the agricultural industry.

By placing a lender under special supervision, the Farm Credit Administration basically increases its oversight and provides the institution with a "road map back to normal supervision," said Roger Paulsen, director of risk supervision at the agency.

"We needed to be more formal about it than just sitting across the table and telling them that," Paulsen said.

The administration does not disclose the names of lenders subject to special supervision or enforcement action.

Enforcement action signals an even higher level of involvement.

The administration takes such actions against lenders that have been unwilling or unable to make suggested improvements under special supervision.

As part of an enforcement action, the administration can issue civil penalties and order the dismissal of employees or directors.

The four most recent actions required the institutions to enter into contracts delineating operational steps they must take, Paulsen said.

Increased supervision of Farm Credit System lenders coincides with the overall downturn in the agricultural economy, Paulsen said.

In early 2007, only one institution had a credit rating low enough to justify special supervision, according to an agency document.

At that point, more than 80 percent of FCS lenders had a top credit rating under the administration's review system.

The percentage of top-rated institutions has since dropped below 30 percent.

"In periods of stress, there are going to be things that show up that you weren't expecting," Paulsen said.

The Farm Credit Administration has identified several factors that contributed to unsatisfactory credit ratings among some lenders, including "rapid, unplanned and unbalanced growth," according to a list developed by the agency.

When commodity prices were booming, some lenders allowed their increasing volume and complexity of loans to outpace internal controls, Paulsen said.

Other problems included submitting untimely or inaccurate information to shareholders, setting aside insufficient funds for loan losses and underestimating risk levels.

"We have very little tolerance for an unreliable internal credit review process," Paulsen said. "It would be something we would take immediate action on."

The current deterioration in agricultural credit quality is, in some respects, a miniature version of what happened in the 1980s, said Steve Blank, an agricultural economist at the University of California-Davis who specializes in risk management.

In the 1970s, commodity prices rose along with currency inflation, he said.

When that bubble popped in the 1980s, land prices plummeted and led to credit deterioration, since so many loans were based on high property values, Blank said.

"The rules of banking changed then," he said.

Rather than basing loans on equity, lenders became focused on farm income, Blank said.

That worked well for about 20 years, until market speculation artificially drove up commodity prices in the latter half of the past decade, he said.

Loans were basically made on inflated projections of farm income growth, Blank said.

"When you're in the middle of one of those speculative bubbles, you don't realize it," he said.

Now, lenders may try to counteract previously lax standards by becoming more restrictive, said Thorsten Egelkraut, an agricultural economist at Oregon State University.

Loan volume within the Farm Credit System remained basically flat in 2009, due to lower demand among farmers and increased lender controls, according to an agency document.

"If you scrutinize the bank, you can't tell the institution to lend a lot," Egelkraut said.