Author: OCM Staff

August 2, 2019: #AgJustice Webinar with Open Markets Institute

OCM Staff

Our #AgJustice webinar series continues on August 2nd at 10:00 AM CT with Claire Kelloway from the Open Markets Institute. This is a presentation exclusively for OCM members that you won’t want to miss. Claire will outline how the courts, lawmakers, and academics have reinterpreted antitrust laws to allow for unfettered mergers and unprecedented concentration across the entire economy, especially in agriculture. From seeds, to processing, to retail, growing consolidation and anti-competitive tactics across the food chain are squeezing Read More …

Feedstuffs | Former poultry farmers push for GIPSA rewrite

OCM Staff

Feedstuffs By Jacqui Fatka Former contract poultry farmer Craig Watts made headlines when he teamed up with Compassion in World Farming USA to expose issues he faced, from receiving sick chicks to animal welfare conditions to carrying the full financial burden of maintaining and upgrading facilities. In 2016, his contract was terminated by the poultry company he had served long term, and today’s he’s trying to ensure that farmers have government protection against retaliation from companies. “As American farmers, we deserve Read More …

Family Farmers Go to Washington, Cry Foul Over Meat Industry Abuse

OCM Staff

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  Media Contact: Adam Hymans, adam@resource-media.org, 215.796.7759 Photos, videos and backgrounders: https://tinyurl.com/standwithfarmfamiliesassets  [WASHINGTON, D.C. – July 16, 2019]  — Family farmers and advocates from the country’s top agricultural states took to Capitol Hill this week to expose what they say has been decades of abuse by the nation’s largest meat companies. At a press conference on Tuesday, the group launched its Stand With Farm Families campaign, sharing harrowing accounts of predatory contracts, rigged markets and retaliation Read More …

July 15-17, 2019: Nationwide Group of Family Farmers to Expose Abuse in Meat Industry, Demand Action From USDA 

OCM Staff

Family farmers and advocates from the country’s top agricultural states will take to Capitol Hill to expose decades of abuse by the nation’s largest meatpacking companies. At a press conference on Tuesday, the group will launch its Stand With Farm Families campaign, sharing harrowing accounts of predatory contracts, rigged markets and retaliation that many farmers claim have driven them into bankruptcy. The goal of the campaign is to urge the USDA to resurrect and add specific protections to its Read More …

Successful Farming | What Farmers Can Expect from the Latest Round of Seed Company Mergers

OCM Staff

Successful Farming Gil Gullickson “Oh, one more thing,” says Ray Gaesser, as he holds out two fingers pointing to his shiny green 24-row corn planter on a bluebird April day. “Would you believe when I began farming over 50 years ago, I started with a two-row planter? Then I went to four, then 12, and now 24 rows.” The mix of largely family-owned and some national seed companies from which the Corning, Iowa, farmer bought seed from in Read More …

POLITICO | The Ivory Tower team of wonks behind Warren’s policy agenda

OCM Staff

POLITICO By Alex Thompson and Theodoric Meyer Behind Elizabeth Warren’s trust-busting, Wall Street-bashing, tax-the-wealthy platform is a brain trust that extends well beyond the Beltway thinkers who often rubber stamp campaign proposals. Instead, the former Harvard professor and her tight team of policy advisers have waded deeper into the world of academia than is usual in presidential campaigns, according to interviews with more than a dozen people her campaign has consulted and a review of the scholarship underlying Read More …

Advocates Take to Social Media to #BreakUpBigAg

OCM Staff

Between Monday, June 10th and Friday, June 14th the Organization for Competitive Markets led a social media campaign called #BreakUpBigAg to support the Agribusiness Merger Moratorium Act. Organizations and individual advocates published their pictures along with statements in support of the moratorium on Facebook and Twitter. In their pictures, participants were holding posters with facts about consolidation in our farm and food systems. These facts included: “1950s: farmers received 50% of the food dollar. Today: farmers receive 14.8% of Read More …

Farm Progress | Merger moratorium bill introduced

OCM Staff

Farm Progress Democratic lawmakers have introduced a bill to place a moratorium on acquisitions and mergers in the food and agriculture sector. U.S. Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., introduced the Food and Agribusiness Merger Moratorium and Antitrust Review Act. The bill would put an immediate moratorium in place until Congress passes comprehensive legislation addressing the problem of market concentration in agriculture. “Our agriculture and food sector have reached alarming levels Read More …