Category: General Advocacy

Courage For the World Teaches Food Sustainability

Mike Callicrate

Eating healthy foods from growers and ranchers using sustainable practices may seem like a daunting task but an organization called “Courage for the World” is making it easier. Using established networks, they are teaching people about food sources, the economic advantages to shoppers for buying locally even though it may cost slightly more, and the severe economic and environmental damage caused by multi-national corporate food factories and laboratories. Their message shows us how to go into a grocery Read More …

36 Groups Urge Ag Secretary to Enforce Beef Checkoff Program’s Prohibition Against Conflicts of Interest; Urge Other Reforms

Mike Callicrate

Joint News Release For Immediate Release: Contact: Bill Bullard: (406-670-8157) Fred Stokes (601-527-2459) September 11, 2014 36 Groups Urge Ag Secretary to Enforce Beef Checkoff Program’s Prohibition Against Conflicts of Interest; Urge Other Reforms Washington, DC – In the wake of this weekend’s announcement by the National Farmers Union (NFU) that it was withdrawing from the Beef Checkoff Enhancement Working Group (working group), 36 organizations sent a joint letter today to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urging him to Read More …

Like GM, Food Companies Place Profits Over Safety and Security

Mike Callicrate

Our nation’s food system is at risk! By Mike Callicrate Putting people at risk to save a buck isn’t isolated to the automotive industry. In today’s global economy, where the biggest cheater wins, foreign imports of beef and the recent return of Pink Slime add insult to injury for the few remaining independent producers and meat processors struggling to survive. Food companies from Walmart to Chipotle to the mom and pop restaurants that rely on a Sysco food Read More …

Guideline for AMS Oversight of Commodity Research and Promotion Programs

Fred Stokes

Conflicts of Interest in Research and Promotion Programs As a general matter of policy, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) guidelines for oversight of all checkoff programs expressly require contracting procedures that “avoid any conflict of interest or a situation that could reasonably be perceived by a third party as a conflict of interest.”1 The Beef Order includes provisions that reflect these principles, as well. Before service on the board or as a Federation representative on the Beef Promotion Read More …

Center of the Road

Richard Oswald

Driving down the middle of the road is a common practice in rural areas where back roads are marked mostly by two bare tracks. Meeting requires that passing cars yield by splitting the track. I remember once a long time ago when passing neighbors crunched bumpers on a gravel road. The law was called to establish liability for the crash. When a deputy arrived, he surveyed the scene. He determined no one was hurt, no tempers inflamed, no Read More …

WHERE IS THE BEEF?

Mike Callicrate

“The Segregation Cost Arguments Do Not Hold Water” By: J. Dudley Butler Some opponents of COOL seem to use the term commingling as a synonym for segregation. Nothing could be further from the truth. Meat is commingled. Cattle are segregated. COOL does not deal with live animals. It deals with the sale of commodities such as beef and pork at the retail level. The COOL statue does not allow commingling of covered retail products. The use of commingling Read More …

The End of the Trail for Family Ranchers: Lunch with Louden 7/31/2014

Mike Callicrate

New Politics Podcasts with Coffee Party USA on BlogTalkRadio Do you ever feel like you are not getting the whole story? If you are like me, you can look to your own life situation and know that “the news” often omits important elements that might well change how others perceive the situation. Whether the information is incomplete by oversight or design, it is time for our media to raise the bar. Today on Lunch with Louden I’ll be Read More …

Special Report: The End of the Trail – How Government Destroyed Free Markets for Family Ranchers

Mike Callicrate

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack’s inaction has led to the near-destruction of American family ranchers. Over 17,000 family ranches will disappear this year. Over 100,000 family ranchers have left the profession since 2009. It’s a tragedy as world-renowned American beef experiences record-high prices, grocery retailers seize increasing shares of beef dollars, meat packers manipulate the beef market and prices paid to ranchers, and the ranchers are denied the rewards resulting from raising the best cattle in the world. Read More …