DELTA AMBASSADOR: Seymour Johnson of Indianola has been representing the Delta’s agriculture interests for many years. In this prominent role, Johnson’s leadership has been a great value to Mississippi.

Delta native’s influence reaches far beyond Mississippi’s borders
Seymour Johnson is Washington, D.C.’s point man on agricultural issues

by DOREEN MUZZI
DBJ Contributing Writer

Seymour Johnson could never be accused of resting on his laurels. In fact, quite the opposite is true. This Delta leader has visited more countries than most people can locate on a map, and there’s hardly a financial or agricultural committee he hasn’t chaired.

After entering farming in 1952, Johnson ran his family’s row-crop operation for 50 years. Despite stepping back from farming in recent years, he continues to produce catfish and hasn’t yet planned his exit from that industry.

Johnson, who makes his home in Indianola, is the man the Washington, D.C. political moguls come to for advice.

“It has been deliberate from the standpoint that whenever I’ve been asked to serve, I’ve tried never to turn it down,” he says. “I’ve felt an obligation to serve my industry, and I’ve done that wherever possible."

Johnson has served as chairman or president of businesses and organizations ranging from the Federal Reserve Bank to the American Soybean Association to Delta Council, the Cotton Board and The Catfish Institute.

He serves as a guest lecturer for the agribusiness program at his alma mater, Harvard Business School. His educational background also includes the Culver Military Academy, the University of Mississippi and Iowa State University.

Being active in the politics of agriculture during the past half-century has given Johnson a front-row seat to monumental changes in the industry.

“No matter in which era you’re farming, there are always going to be obstacles, but each generation must deal with its own set of challenges,” he says. “Today, you have to go public with your issues, where before you could work more through the legislative process. Public opinion is where farmers today must wage and win their wars. Fortunately, the farmer has a good reputation with the American public. The same can’t be said for some other industries.”
Johnson considers these good times for farmers, but he also predicts stiff challenges in the future.

“There are clouds on the horizon, including Brazil’s challenge of U.S. subsidies to the WTO, China’s role in the cotton market, legal challenges to the commodity check-offs, and catfish imposter imports. The WTO threat is real and it seems to have gained momentum. I think cotton has a pretty tough road ahead. In fact, I think farm subsidies in general have a tough row for the next farm bill.”

Brazil had a seemingly easy time making their point to the World Trade Organization mainly because their argument is a simple one, says Johnson.

“Their argument is more understandable and ours is more complicated to explain. It’s one of those things where one-liners serve a better purpose than an in-depth analysis. We’re not gaining on the argument, even among thoughtful conservatives,” he says. “We’ve been trying this for 30 years, and I’m not sure we have a better story to tell than simply that Americans have the cheapest food in the world. Are we going to have cheaper food without subsidies? It becomes very doubtful.”

Johnson sees the WTO arguments over subsidies as a long-running debate. “I don’t think we have a choice. We must go forward, even with a suspected decision against the United States by the WTO.”

On another front, Johnson is helping to wage the battle against the importation of Vietnamese Basa fish into the U.S. farm-raised catfish market. He currently is serving as chairman of the Catfish Farmers of America’s committee to fight what they see as the illegal dumping of inferior fish into the catfish market.

“Some people in Vietnam now are trying to circumvent the rules by shipping Vietnamese basa catfish to Cambodia for processing. Then, they can call them Cambodian fish. We have filed a complaint with the Commerce Department about this circumvention.”

The rule creating a tariff on Vietnamese basa fish imported into the United States currently is under an annual review, says Johnson. “They can come in and make claims about the rule, and the Commerce Department has to rule on it. So we have to go back with our lawyers and counter their arguments.”

The commodity check-offs - including ones for cotton, beef and pork - all are under scrutiny and involved in lawsuits, with the lower courts ruling against the beef and pork check-offs. Although it’ll probably take another two to three years for the lawsuits to make their way through the courts, Johnson sees serious ramifications from the challenges.

“There is no question that the cotton check-off has been one of the better ones and has resulted in one of the more successful programs. Due to world trade conditions, we now have to devote our efforts to the use of American cotton overseas. We’re sending people to other countries to show them how to use American cotton.”

But the United States does have an advantage, contends Johnson. “We have a grading system that can be computerized. We have what is known as EFS, or Engineered Fiber Selection, and we have high-volume instrumentation for grading, which no other country has. Properly used, that’s worth about a $15-per-bale advantage.

“We must take advantage of that to a greater extent,” he says. “It looks as though imports will continue to outweigh domestic use, due primarily to the collapse of the U.S. mill industry and the large amount of U.S. cotton being processed overseas. They’ve flooded the market, and U.S. mills are having a tough time competing.”

The cotton check-off program, says Johnson, has proven its worth many times over. “It has been successful in maintaining a market for U.S. cotton. In the 1960s, we all were wearing polyester, and we thought we were going to lose the U.S. cotton market completely.”

Meanwhile, China continues to be a mystery in international trade, he says. “It seems that in every commodity, we don’t know what their production sizes are, and we don’t know what their intentions will be. It creates a real question mark in the market.”

On a more personal note, Johnson has found time between committee meetings to work towards fulfilling a few personal goals. One of these is to visit at least 100 countries in his lifetime. So far, he’s at 96 and counting.

He had planned to travel to South Africa this past summer, but recent heart surgery has caused a delay of one year. When he does make the trip, he’ll also include Swaziland and Malawi on his itinerary. “That’ll put us at 99, so I’ll still need to pick up just one more country,” he says. “I’m hoping we’ll run short on fuel and have to stop in Cape Verde. That’ll put me at 100.”

During each of his visits abroad, Johnson spends at least part of the time bird watching. It adds a new dimension to his travels, he says. “I’m up to 1,845 bird species and I want to get to 2,500. So I’ve got some goals to meet.”

Johnson says his most memorable trip was the one he made to Antarctica.

“It’s a beautiful place, and it’s totally different from anyplace else you could visit. The bird watching is fabulous. You can see all of these pelagic birds that stay at sea. There are birds out there that never come to land except to nest. There are hundreds of species. Then, of course, you have the penguins and the seals,” he says. “While in Antarctica, we followed whales and watched the penguins swim under water. The scenery - with daylight all the time - is swpectacular, and the icebergs are amazing. It’s kind of surreal to drift through absolutely still water and see icebergs of all different colors, in all different directions.”

Johnson says his immediate goal is to regain his strength and then continue with the life to which he has grown accustomed. “It has been fun, and it has been interesting,” he says. DBJ