Category: Media Coverage

Beef Magazine | GIPSA rule delayed, additional comment period opened

OCM Staff

Beef Magazine By Burt Rutherford USDA’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration once again postpones implementation of its controversial rule. In an announcement that drew cheers from some quarters of the beef business and consternation from others, the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) is delaying the effective date of its interim Farmer Fair Practices final rule an additional six months to Oct. 19, 2017, to allow additional comments and giving the new Ag Secretary time to consider Read More …

Tri-State Livestock News | Deja-vu for Checkoff Legislation: If at first you don’t succeed…

OCM Staff

Tri-State Livestock News By Traci Eatherton In late March, Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced new legislation, hoping to add what they call “much needed transparency and accountability” to checkoff programs. Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act of 2017 (OFF Act), along with a companion bill, the Voluntary Checkoff Act, is being praised by R-CALF. According to Bill Bullard, R-CALF CEO, the two bills were introduced too late last session for a full consideration in Read More …

Meat+Poultry | Checkoff programs in legislative crosshairs

OCM Staff

Meat+Poultry BY ERICA SHAFFER WASHINGTON – Lawmakers in the US House and Senate introduced bi-partisan legislation intended to bring transparency and accountability to federal commodity marketing programs. Introduced by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Sen. Corey Booker (D -NJ) the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act of 2017 (OFF Act) will: Clarify and fortify the prohibition on checkoff programs from contracting with organizations that lobby on agricultural policy; Establish program standards that prohibit anticompetitive behavior and engaging in Read More …

Agriculture.com | SF Special: A Constant Battle for Beef Checkoff Transparency

OCM Staff

Agriculture.com By Anna McConnell 3/21/2017  It all started when former Kansas City Star investigative reporter Mike McGraw overheard a conversation at the 2012 National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. Five years later, he’s unsure exactly what he heard and can’t locate his notes from the convention, but it was enough that the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) started balling its fists and marching toward the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board (CBB), also known as the Read More …

Huffington Post | While Trump Was Dominating In Deep-Red Oklahoma, This Democrat Won A Landslide

OCM Staff

Huffington Post Now Joe Maxwell is urging his party not to give up on rural America. By Zach Carter MICHAEL CALI FOR THE HUFFINGTON POSTJoe Maxwell beat a right-to-farm initiative in a farming state. As precinct data rolled into his war room at the Aloft Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City last November, Joe Maxwell realized his team had a landslide on its hands. He saw no need to delay the victory speeches, having been up since before daybreak Read More …

The New York Times | Leashes Come Off Wall Street, Gun Sellers, Polluters and More

OCM Staff

The New York Times By ERIC LIPTON and BINYAMIN APPELBAUM WASHINGTON — Giants in telecommunications, like Verizon and AT&T, will not have to take “reasonable measures” to ensure that their customers’ Social Security numbers, web browsing history and other personal information are not stolen or accidentally released. Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase will not be punished, at least for now, for not collecting extra money from customers to cover potential losses from certain kinds Read More …

DTN The Progressive Farmer | Groups Write to AG Opposing Seed-Chemical Mergers

OCM Staff

DTN The Progressive Farmer By Chris Clayton, DTN Ag Policy Editor Nearly 325 consumer, food, farm and anti-pesticide groups sent a letter Monday to newly confirmed Attorney General Jeff Sessions calling on Sessions to block the three major seed-and-agrichemical mergers being reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as other U.S. and foreign regulators. The mergers involved include Dow Chemical and DuPont, Bayer AG and Monsanto, and ChemChina and Syngenta. Groups signing onto the letter stated Read More …

Where Did It All Go?

OCM Staff

By Lee Pitts, Livestock Market Digest Sometimes you have to really dig to find a story. And then sometimes it finds you. In the past few weeks I’ve received several phone calls from people associated with the beef checkoff. This alone is a minor miracle because I haven’t exactly been on speaking terms with these folks. Suffice it to say, I’m not on the Christmas card list of the NCBA or the Beef Board. At first I was Read More …