Category: Corporate Power

Poll: Farmers Overwhelmingly Oppose Bayer-Monsanto Merger

OCM Staff

For Immediate Release: March 8, 2018 Contacts: Patrick Davis, Friends of the Earth, (202) 222-0744, pdavis@foe.org Angela Huffman, Organization for Competitive Markets, (614) 390-7552, ahuffman@competitivemarkets.com Poll: Farmers Overwhelmingly Oppose Bayer-Monsanto Merger  Farmers’ concerns illustrate why merger should be blocked; milder remedies unlikely to work WASHINGTON, D.C. – An overwhelming majority of surveyed farmers are concerned about the proposed Bayer-Monsanto merger and believe it will have a negative impact on independent farmers and farming communities, a poll released today Read More …

Could the Bayer-Monsanto merger put the U.S. seed supply under Chinese control?

OCM Staff

Much has already been said by Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) and others about the food security threat posed by the pending mega-merger of Bayer AG and Monsanto Co. The combined company would have unprecedented control of big data and access to patents, gene traits and intellectual property. It would become the world’s largest agribusiness company, with a virtual lock on the seed for corn, soybeans, cotton, canola, and wheat. It would have the ability to further dominate Read More …

Farm Groups Urge Missouri Attorney General to Investigate Bayer, Monsanto Merger

OCM Staff

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 28, 2017 Media Contact: Angela Huffman, 614-390-7552 ahuffman@competitivemarkets.com Farm Groups Urge Missouri Attorney General to Investigate Bayer, Monsanto Merger Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley Should Conduct Public Joint Investigation with DOJ JEFFERSON CITY, MO – Today, farm organizations urged Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley to join the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) investigation into the proposed $66 billion mega-merger of Bayer AG and Monsanto Co., and to conduct a public joint investigation. The letter, Read More …

Costco Refuses to Discuss Poultry Contracts

OCM Staff

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information, contact: Mike Weaver (304) 668-2526 John Hansen (402) 580-8815 Costco Refuses to Discuss Poultry Contracts LINCOLN, NE – As a result of Costco’s Wholesale Corporation CEO W. Craig Jelinek’s failure to accept or respond to an invitation from the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) and Nebraska Farmers Union (NeFU) to sit down and discuss concerns with poultry contract provisions offered to area farmers, OCM and NeFU have issued an open letter to Read More …

Senate Judiciary Committee must carefully assess Delrahim in light of potential agribusiness mergers

OCM Staff

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 9, 2017 WASHINGTON, DC – Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for Makan Delrahim, President Trump’s nominee for Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. The DOJ’s Antitrust Division reviews and makes decisions on corporate mergers, and as an Assistant Attorney General Delrahim will be the ultimate decider on the proposed merger of giant agrichemical companies Monsanto Company and Bayer AG. A coalition of 137 farmer, consumer and environmental Read More …

Refugees, Meatpacking, and Rural Communities

Don Stull

One week after taking office, President Trump signed the executive order “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States,” which suspended our nation’s refugee program for four months and would cut the number of refugees to be admitted this year by more than half. Among the many who voiced concerns over this edict were Barry Carpenter, president and CEO of the North American Meat Institute, and Cameron Bruett, head of corporate affairs for JBS, USA, Read More …

Over 300 food and farm groups urge Jeff Sessions to oppose agricultural mega-mergers

OCM Staff

For Immediate Release: February 13, 2017 (Washington, D.C.)— Nearly 325 farming, beekeeping, farmworker, religious, food safety, and conservation advocacy groups today urged the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a thorough investigation into the proposed mergers of the world’s largest agrochemical and seed companies. Groups urged Jeff Sessions, the new Attorney General, to enjoin the mergers of Dow Chemical with DuPont, Monsanto with Bayer AG, and Syngenta with ChemChina on the grounds that they will drive up food Read More …

Over 100 Mississippi Farmers and Ranchers Gather to Reclaim a Fair Food System

OCM Staff

Cattle Producers Mad as Hell and Not Gonna Take It Anymore BAY SPRINGS, MS – Yesterday evening, over 100 farmers and ranchers gathered in Bay Springs, Mississippi to say “enough is enough.” With this year’s calf prices dropping to about half of what they were a year ago and putting Mississippi cattle producers’ viability in question, cattle producers learned of actions they can take to win back a free and just market to regain their fair share of Read More …