By Peggy Lowe | Mar. 18, 2014 Cattle business from the producers’ eyes Allen and Lynda Berry own a cow-calf operation in central Missouri. (Peggy Lowe/Harvest Public Media) The beginning for most cows starts on a family farm where cow-calf operators raise cattle the old-school way. But some worry that the industry is moving towards consolidation, like the hog and poultry industries. Click here to read about what life is like as a cow-calf operator. We’ve all heard Read More …
(00:00) Independent and natural family ranchers are forced to pay for their own demise through a government “tax” transferred to multi-national meat processors. Resistance is futile? The beef checkoff program forces small ranchers to pay into a fund that enables multi-national beef processors to divert other money into lobbying that destroys independent ranchers. It is as if you had to pay a portion of your pay so management can eliminate your job. It’s unfair and Congress sustains it Read More …
Independent ranchers and animal rights activists don’t agree about much, except that it’s time to stop using federal tax dollars to support the meat lobby. By Siddhartha Mahanta | New America Foundation Imagine if the federal government mandated that a portion of all federal gas taxes go directly to the oil industry’s trade association, the American Petroleum Institute. Imagine further that API used this public money to finance ad campaigns encouraging people to drive more and turn up Read More …
AirTalk with Larry Mantle for August 12, 2013 Listen to interview: [audio:http://media.scpr.org/audio/upload/2013/08/12/beef.mp3] Tyson foods said it will no longer buy cattle fed Zilmax, a growth-inducing drug. What was the company’s motivation for the decision? Last Thursday market traders noticed cattle prices rise sharply. It was in response to news that Tyson Foods – a major meatpacker – quietly had sent letters to cattle feedlots indicating Tyson would no longer buy cows fed Zilmax. That’s a supplement designed to Read More …
By Mike Callicrate & Fred Stokes Eating is one thing we all have in common. And, to millions of us, what we eat, how it’s produced, and where it comes from is important. OCM has worked for the last fourteen years to restore competition in the agricultural marketplace. We believe family farmers and ranchers make the best stewards of our land and livestock, and are the most reliable and trustworthy sources of high quality, healthy and safe food. Read More …
By Mateusz Perkowski | Capital Press A rancher vows to continue his legal challenge against the national Beef Checkoff even though his original attorneys have decided to exit the court battle. “We fully intend to pursue the case,” said Michael Callicrate, a Colorado rancher and plaintiff in the litigation. A federal judge recently allowed attorneys to withdraw from Callicrate’s lawsuit, which alleges that national Beef Checkoff dollars intended for promotions were unlawfully misused for lobbying. The complaint claims Read More …
Chris Clayton, DTN Ag Policy Editor | Mon Oct 8, 2012 12:54 PM CDT OMAHA (DTN) — The Mississippi Farm Bureau\board of directors may vote to boot a director off its board because of his role in litigation involving the beef checkoff. Fred Stokes, a 77-year-old retired Army veteran who has run a small cattle operation in Mississippi, has spent much of his time over the past several years raising Cain against large market forces in agriculture such Read More …
By Alan Guebert In a striking, two-and-a-half page analysis that ran counter to department leanings, the chief economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture strongly objected to the department’s use of two outside studies that justified the massive retooling—essentially gutting—of the 2010 update of Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rules to ensure fairness in livestock and poultry markets. The memo was one needle in a nearly 1,700-page haystack USDA forked over in reply to Freedom of Read More …