Author: OCM Staff

NCBA Grants Itself $27 Million of Your Beef Checkoff Funds

OCM Staff

Last week the Beef Checkoff Program budget for 2020 was released, outlining how cattle producers’ $40,900,000 in research and promotion funds will be spent in the coming year. The Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB) Beef Promotion Operating Committee (BPOC) named eight organizations as contractors that will be granted the beef checkoff funds. Once again, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) won the top award, of $27,383,347 beef checkoff dollars. More than half of NCBA’s annual budget is made up Read More …

October 2, 2019: Rally to Stop the Stealin’!

OCM Staff

The cattle producers’ share of the retail price of beef has been as high as 70%, but today it is just 38.5%. Last week, cattle producers were losing over $200.00 per head while the monopoly meatpackers like JBS were making over $400.00. Farmers and ranchers own and care for their cattle 365 days a year and are going broke, while the Big Four packers own the cattle for about a week and get rich. Enough is enough: It Read More …

Six Actions Sonny Perdue Can Take Today to Save the U.S. Cattle Market

OCM Staff

Join us on October 2nd in Omaha to say enough is enough: We need #FairCattleMarkets now! No matter whether you call yourself a farmer or a rancher; no matter if you raise cattle, hogs, chickens or row crops; whether you are a citizen-consumer who cares where your food comes from, you should be raising hell and demanding a just and fair market for all.  Independent American hog farmers selling into an open market are a thing of the Read More …

Ag Journal | Concern for small farms fits broader policy shift

OCM Staff

Ag Journal By Candace Krebs Earlier this year Sarah Lloyd, a dairy farmer who works for Wisconsin Farmers Union, organized a national roadshow that included a stop in Clovis, N.M., to rally solutions for what many now consider a full-blown dairy crisis. The problem she wanted to highlight wasn’t a shortage of milk. The U.S. is producing more milk per cow than ever before. But what Lloyd refers to as “no brakes” expansion is pushing out traditional family Read More …

USA Today | A nonprofit promoting dairy pays leaders millions — while farmers funding it go out of business

OCM Staff

USA Today Cary Spivak As the number of dairy farms nationwide has plummeted by nearly 20,000 over the past decade, there’s one corner of the industry doing just fine: The top executives at Dairy Management, who are paid from farmers’ milk checks. The Illinois-based nonprofit is charged with promoting milk, cheese and other products – spending nearly $160 million a year collected through federally-mandated payments from dairy farmers. In 2017, a year in which 503 dairy farms closed in Wisconsin and 1,600 were shuttered nationwide, IRS records Read More …

Corrupt Brazilian Meatpacker Announces Buying Spree on U.S. Taxpayer Dime

OCM Staff

While all our eyes are on a trade war with China, Brazilian behemoth meatpacker JBS is positioned to swoop in and take over U.S. markets with our own bailout money. This week, as reported in Meatingplace, JBS officials informed the world that JBS is “at the best moment in its history…to capture market opportunities. Exclusive organic growth is no longer a priority.” JBS will grow by taking over other companies, further strengthening its stranglehold on the market. JBS Read More …

Congressional Letter Urges USDA to Prioritize Producers Under Packers and Stockyards Act

OCM Staff

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) praises Senators Tester and Grassley and Congresswoman Kaptur, along with 14 of their colleagues, for sending U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary Ibach a letter outlining farmers’ rights that should be addressed when drafting new farmer protection rules under the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 (P&S Act). As a result of a recent OCM lawsuit, USDA released a notice of proposed rulemaking this Spring and it is Read More …

August 8-10, 2019: 21st Annual Food and Agriculture Conference and Membership Meeting

OCM Staff

#FoodAndAg2019 Join us for the only national conference focused on breaking up corporate consolidation and monopoly power in agriculture. Marriott Kansas City Airport 775 Brasilia Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri 64153 Reserve your room at the OCM conference rate of $102 per night by booking online or calling (816) 464-2200. Rooms are available at the discounted rate until 7/19/19. REGISTER NOW >> This year’s conference is a two-day gathering of experts and advocates from across the United States for a rare opportunity Read More …