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 Richard Oswald Simple things–like the first meal of the day–are always best. Bacon and eggs, pancakes and sausage, biscuits, or plain old grits, you just can’t beat a country breakfast. When it gets right down to it, the flavor of the whole day is topped off with one thing; Good or bad, for better or worse, it’s all about gravy. A few years ago, hotels started offering customers breakfast at free buffets. First it was cereal, yogurt, Read More …
USFRA_Q&A Question and Answer concerning USFRA Funding and explanation of compliance with applicable regulations can be found in the document
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 …
By Richard Oswald Robbers and thieves won’t let me be, they want all of it just the same My land, my animals, my seeds– they even want my name Land is getting awfully high, an acre is like treasure But take away this poor dirt farm and my life will have no measure Robbers and thieves won’t let me be, they want all of it just the same My land, my animals, my seeds– they even want my Read More …
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 …
by Randy Stevenson, President The value of history is the lessons learned from it. In looking at the activities of beef industry today, one of the best history lesson comes from certain events around the turn of the last century. The Sherman Antitrust Act had been passed in 1890. In the following decade it was mostly ignored by the Executive Branch of the federal government. In about 1885, prior to the passage of the Sherman Act, a pool Read More …