Search Results for “ncba” – Page 14 – Organization for Competitive Markets

Do We Still Try to Win or Just Throw in the Towel?

March 23, 2012March 23, 2012 Mike Callicrate

No doubt about it; we got trounced on the GIPSA Rule! We’ve been trounced repeatedly over the past dozen years or so in most all of our market reform efforts. On Capitol Hill and in the regulatory agencies, we have routinely been unsuccessful. In the courts, we would win with the jury but ultimately get reversed at the appellate level. The big agribusiness interests have prevailed. We know that our cause is righteous, but we keep losing! I Read More …

Another Market Reformer Quits

February 10, 2012February 29, 2012 Mike Callicrate

Thomas F. “Fred” Stokes President On January 26th, J. Dudley Butler resigned his position as the livestock industry’s top cop. It was a sad day for independent livestock producers and poultry growers. There was lots of excitement and enthusiasm as the Obama Administration’s Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Justice (DOJ) forged an historic joint effort to deal with the long-neglected concentration and market power abuse in agriculture. But after some three years and five workshops which Read More …

What’s Ahead for American Agriculture?

January 20, 2012January 20, 2012 Mike Callicrate

Thomas F “Fred” Stokes President After attending an OCM retreat near Kansas City in 2000, noted writer William Greider wrote an article containing this rather apocalyptic bit of prophecy. “The contemporary triumph of free-market capitalism has revealed to farmers, if not to other Americans, the bitter last act in this drama. Farmers can see themselves being reduced from their mythological status as independent producers to a subservient and vulnerable role as sharecroppers or franchisees. The control of food Read More …

Market Reform Efforts Held Captive to Politics?

November 1, 2011January 20, 2012 Mike Callicrate

by Fred Stokes At the OCM Annual Conference in St. Louis in August of 2009, Phil Weiser, Deputy to Antitrust Chief Christine Varney, and J. Dudley Butler, Administrator of the Grain Inspection and Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA), laid out an ambitious and historic plan to reform the agricultural marketplace. For the first time in our nation’s history, there was to be a joint DOJ/USDA initiative to restore a competitive marketplace for agriculture. Our antitrust laws were finally Read More …

Conference Wrap-Up

September 1, 2011January 20, 2012 Mike Callicrate

Anita Poole-Endsley Executive Director The 13th Annual OCM Conference entitled “Voices Rising from the Land” was held on August 12-13, 2011 in Kansas City, MO at the Westin Crown Center. The meeting carried three themes which illustrate the strategy used by the organization to fight for fair, open and competitive markets: legislation, litigation, and alternative solutions. According to Fred Stokes, former OCM Executive Director and current OCM President, litigation has not been completely successful, and efforts at passing Read More …

U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance;

May 1, 2011January 20, 2012 Mike Callicrate

Thomas F. “Fred” Stokes Executive Director Seeking to help U. S. farmers and ranchers or bent on selling the industrial model to a skeptical public? When I first saw the list of the founding members of the new U. S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance, all sorts of alarm bells went off. The list includes such groups as; American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), American Soybean Association (ASA), Cattlemen’s Beef Board(CBB), Federation of State Beef Councils (FSBC), National Cattlemen’s Beef Read More …

The Beef Checkoff – Who Pays, Who Benefits?

April 1, 2011January 26, 2017 Mike Callicrate

Thomas F. “Fred” Stokes In response to diminishing market share in the early 80’s, a program to promote beef and beef cattle producers interest was initiated. The program was funded through the assessment of $1 per head each time a bovine animal was sold. Initially, participation was voluntary, but was made mandatory when the program became part of the Farm Bill as The Beef Promotion and Research Act of 1985. The stated objectives were; “To enable cattle producers Read More …

Reforming the Marketplace; What’s Next?

March 1, 2011January 23, 2012 Mike Callicrate

Thomas F. “Fred” Stokes Executive Director In a February 9th letter to Agriculture Secretary Vilsack and Attorney General Holder, Senators Patrick Leahy and Charles Grassley state; “we would appreciate an update as to what the DOJ and USDA plans for its next steps.” The two senators, Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, were referring to following-on actions after the conclusion of last year’s joint DOJ/USDA workshops. “What’s next” seems to be the question on the Read More …