Tag: Organization for Competitive Markets

Merchants of Doubt Exposes the Bull

Mike Callicrate

Not believing doesn’t make it untrue In last week’s Atlantic article, Farmland Without Farmers, Wendell Berry describes how industrial agriculture has replaced men with machines, depriving the American landscape of its stewards and the culture they built. He discusses the value of living in a place for a long time and observing, in that place, what’s missing. Over the last 35 years, as Wendell Berry describes, corporations have assumed near total control of agriculture while family farmers have Read More …

Ruling Upholding Meat Labeling Rule Vacated to Consider First Amendment Issue

Mike Callicrate

Reproduced with permission from The United States Law Week, 82 U.S.L.W. 1479 (Apr. 8, 2014). Copyright 2014 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) http://www.bna.com The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit April 4 agreed to rehear en banc a March 28 panel ruling that a group of meat industry representatives was unlikely to succeed in their challenge to a rule revising meat labeling requirements and therefore were not entitled to a preliminary injunction against 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 …

Did Tyson Ban Doping Cows With Zilmax To Boost Foreign Sales?

Mike Callicrate

China, Russia and many countries in the European Union have banned drugs still allowed in the U.S. [audio:http://NoBull.MikeCallicrate.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/NPR_Callicrate_Zilmax.mp3] by: All Things Considered | Peggy Lowe Tyson Foods said it will stop using the controversial drug, which fattens cattle, because of potential animal welfare issues. But many in the beef industry say the company is just interested in boosting exports to countries like China and the European Union, where growth-promoting drugs for meat production are banned. Tyson Foods Inc. Read More …

“They (BIG Ag) suck the wealth from our rural communities”

Mike Callicrate

In 1980 there were 62,000 hog farmers in Missouri, today in this country there are 67,000 left. Joe Maxwell discusses the power of BIG Ag and market concentration at the Local Foods Summit, on February 11th 2013, hosted by Mile High Business Alliance. Joe Maxwell a fourth generation Hog Farmer from Missouri and Vice President, Outreach and Engagement for The Humane Society of the United States, Maxwell works directly with family farmers, helping them organize into producer groups Read More …

Lies, distortions and lawsuits

Mike Callicrate

Farm and Food File for the week beginning Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012 by Alan Guebert Somewhere along the line it became acceptable to bend and break the record of public figures and firms without any consequence whatsoever. Shortly thereafter distortion and deception replaced discussion and debate and yelling and lying replaced compromise and progress. And that’s just in agriculture; in politics it’s even worse. The latest farm and food fight centers on the legal battle that pits the Read More …

OCM 2012: Callicrate vs. USDA: Lawsuit claims beef checkoff paying for lobbying

Mike Callicrate

Daniel D. Owen – Polsinelli Shughart PC August 10, 2012 | Filing Date for Complaint for Permanent Injunction MICHAEL P. CALLICRATE, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (PDF) Mike Callicrate is the named plaintiff in the lawsuit filed against the US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service, Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB) and the CBB’s Beef Promotion Operating Committee. Callicrate is the owner of a meat packing facility and retail market called Ranch Direct Foods in Colorado Springs, Read More …