January 25, 2016 It can be said by those in the livestock industry that these are the worst of times. Whether you are an American cattleman, hog producer or poultry grower, you have felt the continued squeeze on your bottom line. It is beyond anything you have had to endure in the past. It is clear the big packers, through their industrial factory farming practices, have tightened their stranglehold on our markets driving down farm gate income. The Read More …
OCM National Collaboration Members, On behalf of the Organization for Competitive Markets poultry committee led by Mike Weaver, I am reaching out to seek your organization’s support of an effort to ensure more locally-sourced, fair, humane, environmentally sustainable, and nutritious chicken is served in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) cafeterias. The LAUSD is the largest public school system in the state of California, and the second largest in the country. The district is considering bids for Read More …
By Richard Oswald After nearly 66 years of life on earth, watching my grandmother, mother, and wife, with a frying pan skillet, suddenly I learned one day I had not a clue how to make good gravy. And so I struggled. Then, in a single chicken-fried-steak moment, it all came home to me. Half the secret to good gravy is milk. I’m talking about white gravy, salty flour and grease gravy, the kind you eat on biscuits or Read More …
A safe and secure food supply is essential to a free society The United States was always able to feed itself. Except for a few non-essentials like coffee, tea and bananas, we were self-sufficient. The British government, along with their corporate partner, the East India Company, saw unlimited potential to extract wealth through the American colonies. Our Founding Fathers, willing to fight for our freedom and sovereignty, risked their lives and the lives of many citizens, to save Read More …
Organization for Competitive Markets In the early 80’s, after several years of losing market share to other meats, especially chicken,U.S. beef cattle producers initiated a Beef Checkoff Program (Checkoff Program) to promote beef. The program came into being on the third referendum and was included in the Farm Bill in 1985 as the Beef Promotion and Research Act of 1985. In 1996, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) became the prime contractor of the Checkoff Program, receiving the Read More …
Article By Dan Murphy November 17, 2015 Here’s a trend producers know all too well: Corporate consolidation goes forward in the name of “efficiency,” and the end result is bad news for everyone other than management and investors. Newsflash: The Kraft Heinz Co. just announced that the company is eliminating 2,600 jobs and closing seven processing plants. That’s on top of the previously announced elimination of 2,500 administrative jobs. According to a statement by Michael Mullen, the company’s Read More …
“You should be suing Walmart [instead of IBP], they are the problem. They tell us what they will pay and we have no choice but to pay you less” – John Tyson was at the 2002 NCBA convention to announce his intent to purchase IBP, the biggest beef packer in the world. Callicrate informed him of the cattlemen’s lawsuit against IBP for unfair market practices. “It has been brought to such a high degree of concentration that it Read More …
By J. Dudley Butler When Obama made grandiose promises about protecting farmers’ rights Many farmers were hopeful and saw a glimmer of light They turned out and supported Obama in his time of need Obama appointed Vilsack and Holder and told them his words to heed They gave grand speeches and promised big change But in the long run it was just more of the same Vilsack appointed Butler who knew the law and the facts But Vilsack Read More …