Greeley Tribune By Trevor Reid The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to purchase $22.3 million of pork from Greeley-based JBS USA, which is owned by JBS SA, a Brazil-based company. The purchase is part of a bailout program intended to provide aid to U.S. farmers negatively impacted by the international trade war. In November 2018, Smithfield Foods, owned by a Chinese firm, pulled its bid for $240,000 in pork payments after Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, echoed criticisms that Read More …
Author: OCM Staff
Brazil’s JBS, the World’s Largest, Most Corrupt Meatpacker, to Receive $22 Million in U.S. Farm Bailout Money
Update: It is now reported that USDA will award 22,331,309 to JBS under the bailout program, rather than the $5 million previously reported. See the USDA Purchase Award Description here. It has been reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will award $5 million in U.S. taxpayer funds to Brazilian-owned meatpacking corporation, JBS, under the bailout program meant to help American farmers hurt by the trade war. In November 2018, Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods rescinded its bid for bailout money after a backlash Read More …
OCM’s Top 10 Stories of 2018
Here are the 10 stories that received the most traffic on the OCM website in 2018. Which issue is most important to you? Share your top pick with us in the comments. 10. GIPSA is Dead; the Fight for Producer Protections Continues 9. New Legislation Would Hit Pause on Mega-Mergers 8. Petition Filed to End USDA Practice of Allowing Imported Meat to be Labeled “Product of U.S.A.” 7. DOJ Approval of Bayer-Monsanto Mega-Merger Hangs Farmers Out to Dry 6. Read More …
2018 in Review
As 2018 draws to a close, OCM members and supporters should be proud of the successes we have gained together through our hard work and dedication. Our 20th year has clearly been one of our most impactful yet. Here’s why: OCM’s 20th Annual Food & Agriculture Conference We celebrated our 20th anniversary with a highly successful annual conference in Kansas City, MO. Speakers included Federal Trade Commissioner Rohit Chopra and Dr. Ricardo Salvador, director of the Food and Read More …
Video and PowerPoint Presentations from OCM’s 20th Annual Food & Agriculture Conference
The State of Antitrust Law and Future Actions By George Farah, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll Intro to Consumer Class Actions By Bill Anderson, Handley & Anderson PLLC Impact of Retail Concentration on Workers and Farmers (panel discussion) By Dennis Olson, United Food and Commercial Workers When the Packers Come to Town By Don Stull, PhD, MPH, University of Kansas Food System Organization and Community Impacts By Mary Hendrickson, PhD, University of Missouri
Livestock Market Digest | Lee Pitts: Or So We Were Told
First printed in the Livestock Market Digest By Lee Pitts Ever since the beef checkoff went into effect on July 18, 1986, we could count on regular “independent survey results” informing us that 70% or more of all cattlemen approved of the beef checkoff. Typical of such glowing report cards was the one that told us that for every beef checkoff dollar collected, cattlemen were receiving back $11.20 in revenue. You’d have to be a complete, knuckle-dragging ignoramus Read More …
Voice from the Ranch: Nebraska Cattle Producer Screwed by JBS Speaks the Truth
The world’s largest beef processing corporation, JBS, is underpaying family farmers and ranchers for their cattle. Even worse, our government is letting them get away with it. A recent announcement of yet another case where a JBS meatpacking plant failed to properly weigh and keep track of cattle delivered to its plant resulted in a paltry settlement between JBS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), highlighting how USDA is failing the American farmer and rancher. USDA Secretary Read More …
New JBS Violations Highlight Weak Enforcement of Packers & Stockyards Act
Today, Organization for Competitive Markets received information indicating that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will be releasing the terms of a settlement agreement with JBS Swift over its gross mishandling of beef carcasses at its Grand Island, Nebraska facility, its largest beef processing plant in the U.S. This unconscionable practice led to probable underpayments to cattle producers in violation of the Packers & Stockyards Act. In a soon to be released press statement, AMS Read More …