Tag: Monsanto

OCM Opposes Monsanto Purchase of Syngenta

Mike Callicrate

For Immediate Release Media Contacts: OCM President Mike Callicrate, 785-332-8218 John Hansen, OCM Vice President, 402-476-8815 OCM Opposes Monsanto Purchase of Syngenta (June 30, 2015) –The Organization for Competitive Markets Board of Directors passed a resolution opposing Monsanto’s purchase of Syngenta. The buyout would allow the world’s largest seed company to acquire the world’s largest agricultural chemical company and merge them into one company. “Farmers in the U.S. and around the world are facing unprecedented marketplace concentration in Read More …

Farmers in America have a saying: “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu”.

Richard Oswald

Mid-sized farmers are stuck in the middle – too conventional and “toxic” for the foodies, too small to matter to Big Ag corporations. How do you participate in the food debate without becoming part of the menu? Or, with friends like these, who needs aliens? By Richard Oswald Farmers in America have a saying. “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” This reminds me of a Twilight Zone episode where extraterrestrials visiting from outer space Read More …

The Politics & Economics of Food – A presentation at Lamar Community College March 2014

Mike Callicrate

click to enlarge I studied Animal Science at Lamar Community College in 1972 and 1973 prior to completing my Animal Science degree at Colorado State University. A lot has changed in agriculture as Land Grant institutions have taught students that agriculture is a business, not a way of life, steering us well off the path of a sustainable food system. Hopefully we can see a shift back from the destructive industrial model to an agriculture that includes good Read More …

Book Hour: The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America’s Food Business

Mike Callicrate

Family farms and ranches are disappearing at rate of over 10,000 per year. Those who survive are being squeezed by the four powerful multi-national agri-business corporations that control 85% of the meat markets. Their control is eliminating fair markets for food, crushing rural economies, leading to record prices and profits, and creating ungodly conditions for animals with additives, steroids, antibiotics, and genetic engineering that distorts animal physiology. The power of the meat industry and their lobbyists neuter politicians, Read More …

Robber Barons Return – U.S. Becoming Beggar Nation


Mike Callicrate

As Big Food’s tentacles wind tighter around markets and governments, OCM fights on From seed to plate, a handful of global corporations have combined their power to extract unprecedented amounts of resources and wealth. Even Upton Sinclair* couldn’t have predicted that today our nation’s four largest meat packers would control over 85% of the market. Surely even he would be surprised to find the biggest companies in all three major meat categories— beef, pork, and poultry—now foreign owned! Read More …

Monsanto’s growing monopoly

Mike Callicrate

What the Supreme Court got wrong: Patents on self-replicating seed are unethical, dangerous and anti-competitive By Kristina Hubbard A still from a Monsanto ad When the Supreme Court unanimously sided with Monsanto recently, it upheld the company’s right to prohibit the replanting of patented seed – handing the biotech giant a major victory. The court ruled that the doctrine of “patent exhaustion,” which an Indiana farmer argued should apply after the first sale of patented seed, “does not Read More …