The Wall Street Journal - 31.07.2019

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Wednesday, July 31, 2019 |A

ture to Dish may not succeed.”

Legal observers could recall

no other situation where state

antitrust enforcers went to

court to challenge a merger

without waiting first for a de-

cision by their federal counter-

parts. It may also be unprece-

dented, they said, for states to

try to stop a telecommunica-

tions merger approved by both

the Justice Department and

FCC.

Making matters more un-

usual, there will be two differ-

ent sets of court proceedings

running concurrently. That is

because the Justice Depart-

ment needs a federal judge to

give final approval to the set-

tlement it reached with Sprint

and T-Mobile. The settlement

has been filed in Washington,

D.C., where U.S. District Judge

Timothy Kelly will consider

whether it is in the public in-

terest.

U.S. District Judge Victor

Marrero in Manhattan previ-

ously set Oct. 7 as the date the

states’ suit would go to trial,

though that time frame could

change after the parties ap-

pear in court Thursday for a

case-management hearing.

“It really is unprecedented

that you have a federal agency

and the states dueling in dif-

ferent courts,” said Joel Mit-

nick, an antitrust lawyer at

Cadwalader, Wickersham &

Taft LLP.

A spokesman for New York

Attorney General Letitia James

said the states were still re-

viewing the Justice Depart-

ment settlement. The states’

lawsuit argued the merger as

originally proposed would

raise prices for cellphone us-

ers. “We haven’t seen anything

yet to challenge that notion,”

the spokesman said.

T-Mobile and Sprint agreed

to hold off on closing their

merger until after Judge Mar-

rero rules, possibly in months.

U.S. NEWS

cut production of the corn-

based fuel additive, and grain

companies such as Cargill Inc.

and Archer Daniels Midland

Co. are forced to boost offers

to secure grain ahead of a lean

harvest. U.S. Department of

Agriculture officials have pro-

jected that crop-insurance

payouts could top $1 billion

this year, with around 10 mil-

lion acres unplanted nation-

wide.

Bayer warned on Tuesday

that severe weather impacting

its crop-science division could

strain its ability to hit full-

year sales targets.

Farmers’ inability to plant

crops and spray herbicides

could slice $200 million to

$250 million from Corteva’s

quarterly profits, according to

Sanford C. Bernstein analysts.

JPMorgan analysts predicted

continued costs and logistical

challenges for agricultural

trader and processors ADM

and Bunge Ltd.

“I’ve never remembered any

years like this,” said Loren

Bechstein, 92 years old, who

has farmed in Wood County

his entire life. This year, he

said, his family was unable to

plant a single acre.

Out of 2,000 acres Paul

Herringshaw intended to plant

on his corn and soybean fields

near Bowling Green, Ohio, only

325 had anything growing in

mid-July. “What’s happening

around here is a disaster that’s

unfolded in slow motion,” he

said.

At a kitchen table spread

with bills, farming catalogs

and a quilting magazine, Mr.

Herringshaw prepared to fill

out insurance paperwork for

his unplanted fields while

more rain drenched the weedy,

brown field across the road.

Some of Mr. Herringshaw’s

crop-insurance forms were

bound for the Farm Service

Agency office in Bowling

Green. In a typical year, the

county receives 15 to 20 such

claims. The number this year

likely will top 1,500, said Jody

Haines, the agency’s county

executive director. Mr. Haines,

who farms himself and only

got one-third of his corn

planted, added his own forms

in mid-July to the piles.

Wood County farmers said

insurance coverage would help

but won’t fully make up for

this year’s lost crops.

For other agricultural busi-

nesses in the county of

131,000, no such safety net ex-

ists.

At Findlay Implement Co., a

John Deere dealership, Bowl-

ing Green store manager Jeff

Maas said farmers’ interest in

new equipment had tailed off,

and he had postponed hiring a

new salesman and parts tech-

nician.

In nearby Weston, Northern

Ohio Grain Coop Inc. plans to

shift to a four-day workweek

starting in September, lasting

for one year, financial chief

H.D. Roe said.

About 20 miles east, Coun-

tyline Cooperative Inc. general

manager Marc Schaller has

been working the phones,

seeking spare corn. Usually,

Countyline buys local farmers’

grain after harvest and ships it

to feed mills, ethanol plants or

other buyers. But with just

one-tenth of the anticipated

corn crop planted around

Pemberville this year, Mr.

Schaller has reversed his usual

role, calling nearby grain com-

panies for corn that could help

cover Countyline’s projected

sales to local dairies and cattle

producers.

Next door, Frobose Market

IGA owner Bob Frobose said

shoppers worried the poor

crop would drive up prices for

the supermarket’s namesake

bratwursts and other prod-

ucts.

While Mr. Frobose is brac-

ing for his livestock feed costs

to jump by 25% this year, he

said raising prices risked

sending shoppers to chain

stores in nearby towns.

“People working in a gro-

cery store don’t think of them-

selves as having an agriculture

job, but they do,” Mr. Frobose

said.

AtDrewesFarms,16miles

southwest of Bowling Green,

Mark Drewes isn’t sure

whether his late-planted crop

will yield enough to supply

nearby dairies, his customers.

“We’re going to need perfect

weather to even come close to

feeding these cows,” he said.

WOOD COUNTY, Ohio—
American farmers are reeling
after unrelenting rain delayed
planting across the Midwest
while trade battles continue to
drag down exports and crop
prices. Now, the prospect of
another lean year is spreading
farmers’ pain to the agricul-
tural suppliers, traders and
food makers that depend on
them.
Wood County, near Toledo
in Ohio’s northwestern corner,
is usually among the state’s
biggest crop-producing areas.
This summer, it is among the
Farm Belt’s hardest hit. About
131,000 acres lay unplanted
this month, nearly half the
county’s total, according to es-
timates from the county’s
Farm Service Agency. Only one
in five cornfields has a crop
growing.
Alan Sundermeier, county
educator for Ohio State Uni-
versity Extension, rattles off a
litany of worries that emerged
after storms kept local farm-
ers out of their fields until it
was too late to plant.
Cooperatives, unable to sell
seed, fertilizer and chemicals,
are cutting employees’ hours.
Cattlemen and dairies face
feed shortages. Banks are ne-
gotiating lower payments on
farm loans. And some farmers,
already struggling after years
of low crop prices, will have to
make it until autumn of next
year before they produce a
crop.
“The ripple effect will be
devastating for some,” Mr.
Sundermeier said.
The wettest 12-month pe-
riod on record in the continen-
tal U.S. is compounding chal-
lenges for farmers after five
consecutive bumper crops
swelled stockpiles and pushed
down farm incomes. Over the
past year, tariffs from top food
importers such as Mexico and
China slashed exports and fur-
ther pressured prices.
Repeated rainstorms and
flooding are also pressuring
agriculture-industry giants, as
farmers return crop seeds to
companies like Bayer AG and
Corteva Inc., ethanol giants

BYJACOBBUNGE

Troubles Spread in Soggy Farm Country

Unplanted fields and

low crop prices hurt

growers and those who

do business with them

Loren Bechstein picked up a fragment at a former barn site as Matt Bechstein surveyed a wet field at their farm in Pemberville, Ohio.

BRITTANY GREESON FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

WeatherWoes

This spring, northwestern Ohio has seen some of the heaviest and most frequent rains of the last

50 years—destroying crops and impeding planting in cities like Bowling Green in Wood County.

CumulativeprecipitationinBowlingGreen,byyear

Sources: NOAA (precipitation); USDA (2009-18 acres); Wood County Farm Service Administration (2019 acres)

*Projection

30

0

5

10

15

20

25

inches

Jan. Feb. March April May June July

2019 1969-

AcresplantedinWoodCounty

300

0

50

100

150

200

250

thousand acres

2009 ’15 ’19*

Corn Soy

the policy in June 2018, amid

broad outcry from immigra-

tion advocates and lawyers,

Democratic lawmakers and

some Republicans. A federal

judge in San Diego that same

month barred the government

from separating families as a

matter of policy.

More than 2,000 children

were separated the roughly

two months that the separa-

tion policy was in place, and

an internal government watch-

dog report concluded that

thousands more were likely

separated in the months be-

fore.

The details of the 911 chil-

dren separated from their par-

ents since June 28, 2018, are

based on government data

provided as part of the law-

suit.

Acting Homeland Security

Secretary Kevin McAleenan

told lawmakers this month

that separations were now

rare and carried out when a

child was at risk. He said at

the time that fewer than 1,

children had been separated in

the prior year.

The ACLU cited multiple

separations based on a par-

ent’s alleged gang ties, which

the civil-rights group cast

doubt on. One case involved a

father from El Salvador ac-

cused of being a gang member

from Honduras. The ACLU said

the man said he had never

been to Honduras.

Federal immigration au-

thorities have separated more

than 900 children from their

parents in the past year, some

based on claims of abuse or

gang ties, according to govern-

ment data that the American

Civil Liberties Union cited in a

court filing Tuesday.

In a 218-page filing in fed-

eral court in San Diego the

ACLU said the average age of

separated children was 9 years

old and 185 of the children

were younger than 5. Some

were younger than a year, the

civil-rights agency said in its

filing.

Authorities have always had

discretion to separate children

if they are believed to be at

risk. The group asked that

specific guidelines be created

to limit when a child could be

separated.

The Justice Department de-

clined to comment Tuesday.

The ACLU sued the Trump

administration last year to

stop the government from

separating thousands of mi-

grant children from their par-

ents after crossing the border

illegally, under a zero-toler-

ance policy that sought to

prosecute nearly all adult ille-

gal border crossers.

That policy was announced

in April 2018 and expanded in

May. President Trump issued

an executive order abandoning

BYALICIAA.CALDWELL

Over 900 Migrant

Children Separated

“We are in uncharted terri-

tory,” Sprint Executive Chair-

man Marcelo Claure wrote in a

note to employees, adding that

there is “no modern prece-

dent” for state officials to

block a telecom merger al-

ready backed by the requisite

federal agencies.

The litigation also means

Dish’s plans to jump into the

wireless market are on hold.

“We’re not spiking the football

yet,” Dish Chairman Charlie

Ergen said Friday.

Mr. Ergen, once a top oppo-

nent of the deal, now could be

a central witness in support of

a T-Mobile and Sprint merger.

Its fate could depend in part

on whether Judge Marrero be-

lieves Dish can make good on

its plans to be a new wireless

rival. Dish seeks to enter the

wireless business as cord-cut-

ting threatens its television

customer base. The company

on Monday reported a net loss

of 31,000 subscribers in the

second quarter, though its

Sling TV streaming service

added customers.

—Sarah Krouse

contributed to this article.

T-Mobile US Inc. and
Sprint Corp., whose union was
blessed by the Justice Depart-
ment last week, are still wran-
gling with a group of state at-
torneys general trying to sink
the wireless companies’
merger in court. But the very
conditions the federal govern-
ment imposed on the deal
could make the states’ effort
even more challenging.
Concerns about an antitrust
suit brought by a group of
states weighed Monday on
shares of the wireless compa-
nies and Dish Network Corp.,
which is in line to get assets
being sold off in a deal reached
with the Justice Department.
The states, led by New York
and California, filed suit to
block the deal on June 11, be-
fore the Justice Department
had made up its mind on the
$26 billion-plus transaction.
The department gave the
green light Friday, after the
companies agreed to a host of
asset sales and conditions, in-
cluding ones designed to set
up satellite-TV provider Dish
Network as a new competitor
in the wireless sector.
T-Mobile and Sprint also
have the backing of the Federal
Communications Commission,
which signaled its approval af-
ter the companies agreed to
sell Sprint’s Boost Mobile
brand, expand wireless broad-
band access and refrain from
raising prices for three years.
Now, the 13 states and the
District of Columbia likely will
have to litigate against the
deal as modified to address the
federal government’s competi-
tion concerns, which could
make their case more compli-
cated.
“The states have a higher
burden than they did when
they first filed the lawsuit,”
said James Fishkin, an anti-
trust lawyer with Dechert LLP.
“The states need to be able to
demonstrate that this divesti-

BYBRENTKENDALL
ANDDREWFITZGERALD

Suit Muddles T-Mobile, Sprint Deal

New York, whose attorney general is Letitia James, and other states filed suit to block the deal.

MARY ALTAFFER/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The U.S. Justice

Department and the

FCC have backed

the merger.

 Weather buffets Bayer crop-

science unit................................. B

Migrant families turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents.

LOREN ELLIOTT/REUTERS