Media

POLITICO | The Ivory Tower team of wonks behind Warren’s policy agenda

OCM Staff

POLITICO By Alex Thompson and Theodoric Meyer Behind Elizabeth Warren’s trust-busting, Wall Street-bashing, tax-the-wealthy platform is a brain trust that extends well beyond the Beltway thinkers who often rubber stamp campaign proposals. Instead, the former Harvard professor and her tight team of policy advisers have waded deeper into the world of academia than is usual in presidential campaigns, according to interviews with more than a dozen people her campaign has consulted and a review of the scholarship underlying Read More …

Advocates Take to Social Media to #BreakUpBigAg

OCM Staff

Between Monday, June 10th and Friday, June 14th the Organization for Competitive Markets led a social media campaign called #BreakUpBigAg to support the Agribusiness Merger Moratorium Act. Organizations and individual advocates published their pictures along with statements in support of the moratorium on Facebook and Twitter. In their pictures, participants were holding posters with facts about consolidation in our farm and food systems. These facts included: “1950s: farmers received 50% of the food dollar. Today: farmers receive 14.8% of Read More …

Farm Progress | Merger moratorium bill introduced

OCM Staff

Farm Progress Democratic lawmakers have introduced a bill to place a moratorium on acquisitions and mergers in the food and agriculture sector. U.S. Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., introduced the Food and Agribusiness Merger Moratorium and Antitrust Review Act. The bill would put an immediate moratorium in place until Congress passes comprehensive legislation addressing the problem of market concentration in agriculture. “Our agriculture and food sector have reached alarming levels Read More …

NPR | ‘American Soil’ Is Increasingly Foreign Owned

OCM Staff

NPR By Renee Wilde American soil. Those are two words that are commonly used to stir up patriotic feelings. They are also words that can’t be taken for granted, because today nearly 30 million acres of U.S. farmland are held by foreign investors. That number has doubled in the past two decades, which is raising alarm bells in farming communities. When the stock market tanked during the past recession, foreign investors began buying up big swaths of U.S. Read More …

May 23, 2019: #AgJustice Webinar with Center for American Progress

OCM Staff

On May 23, 2019 at 11:00 AM CT, Zoe Willingham and Abril Castro from the Center for American Progress (CAP) will bring OCM members their latest research on U.S. farm policy. They will share their research on the history of structural racism at the USDA and its contribution to the loss of black farms. They will present exciting proposals that would begin to help black farmers rebuild wealth by affirmatively supporting the growth of black-owned and -operated farms. Read More …

Over 200 Farm, Food and Rural Groups Support Agribusiness Merger Moratorium Bills

OCM Staff

Coalition Urges Members of Congress to Cosponsor Vital Legislation Washington, D.C. — Today, a broad-based coalition of 219 farm, food, rural, faith and consumer advocacy organizations delivered a letter to Congress endorsing food and agribusiness merger moratorium bills introduced by Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Jon Tester (D-MT) and Representative Mark Pocan (D-WI). The Food and Agribusiness Merger Moratorium and Antitrust Review Act of 2019 would initiate a moratorium on large agriculture, food and beverage manufacturing and grocery retail Read More …

USDA Announces New Packers and Stockyards Act Regulations to be Issued

OCM Staff

Today, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it will invite the public to comment on new proposed revisions to regulations under the Packers & Stockyards Act in compliance with a 2008 congressional mandate by the Bush administration. At issue is whether or not family farmers have a legal leg to stand on when the largest agriculture monopolies bully them in the marketplace using predatory and retaliatory practices to either keep farmers in line or to drive Read More …

OCM Calls on DOJ to Block Acquisition of Iowa Premium by National Beef Packing Company

OCM Staff

Via Open Markets Institute: Deal Would Destroy Last Competitive Market for Cattle in America Washington, D.C. — As lawmakers’ calls to break up big agribusiness monopolies grow, Open Markets, Food & Water Watch and the Organization for Competitive Markets called on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to block the proposed acquisition of Iowa Premium by National Beef. “True open and competitive cattle auctions are disappearing as ranchers become more beholden to powerful corporations,” says Claire Kelloway, Food & Farming researcher at Open Read More …