ACTION ALERT: 2007 Farm Bill: Call Senate Ag Committee Members Klobuchar & Coleman to Restore Open Competition, Fair Markets & Healthy Rural Communities

8/31/07
Market access and competition in the livestock industry are decreasing while corporate concentration and corporate earnings are on the rise. Independent livestock producers are faced with less market access, unfair growing contracts, and limited bargaining power for the livestock the raise and sell. We need strong, comprehensive competition reform in the 2007 Farm Bill to restore balance, equity and opportunities for independent livestock producers and rural communities that depend on them.

Congress has a choice. It can choose to champion a strong Livestock Title in the 2007 Farm Bill and begin returning balance to agricultural markets. Or — it can stand by and do nothing while the balance of control tips further toward agribusiness corporations, resulting in more and more family farmers and ranchers losing their livelihoods.

CALL TODAY: We need your help to ensure that the 2007 Farm Bill is going to support our family farmers and ranchers. Ask your Senators to support Sen. Tom Harkin’s Livestock Title and additional reforms to bring more balance to the livestock sector. Competitive markets are what made America great.

Message: I am calling to urge the Senator (Klobuchar or Coleman) to support Chairman Tom Harkin’s Livestock Title in the 2007 Farm Bill. Can I count on the Senator to do that?

During the Senate Farm Bill debate in committee and on the floor I want my Senator to support amendments that advance the Captive Supply Reform Act and the Packer Ban. Can you give her/him that message?

When you call, tell whoever answers the telephone you want to leave a message for the Senator. Ask them to write down your note and make sure to say who you are and where you’re from. If you farm, tell them that too. Please make two quick calls today and urge support for competition reform.

Background:
The Senate is working on its version of the Farm Bill. The Senate Agriculture Committee, which Senator Amy Klobuchar and Senator Norm Coleman serve on, will probably start voting on the Bill in mid-September. The 2007 Farm Bill needs to address the current state of agriculture:

A small handful of corporations overwhelmingly dominate the nation’s food supply.
Corporate mergers and buyouts have concentrated the majority of power amongst the top four firms in the food industry: grain, red meat, poultry and milk processing.
These mergers and buyouts have increased large corporations’ ability to unfairly manipulate market conditions in their favor, eliminating free market competition and harming independent family farmers and consumers.

Senator Harkin’s Proposed Livestock Title Increases Fairness in Ag Contracts & Markets:

1. Fairness Standards for Agricultural Contracts:
One of the worst problems that farmers who raise livestock on contract face is that they are often required by the contracts provided by the corporate livestock and meat companies to sign away their right to take legal action in court to defend themselves against abusive business practices. Instead, they are required to use an expensive and secretive private system— called mandatory arbitration—favored by these corporations. Sen. Harkin’s Livestock Title would retain a farmer’s right to legal action as it’s determined how best to resolve disputes.

2. Bargaining Rights for Farmers:
Amend Agricultural Fair Practices Act of 1967 to require companies to bargain in good faith with bargaining associations, and allow farmers to join associations without fear of retaliation by processors.

3. Closing Poultry Loopholes in P & S A:
Poultry loopholes in the P & S A (Packers and Stockyards Act) should be closed to provide the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) with the necessary enforcement authority over all poultry cases. This is necessary to bring poultry in line with other livestock within the P & S A. Currently GIPSA doesn’t have authority to take administrative action and protect growers by halting unfair practices or penalizing poultry companies that violate the law.

Other Needed Reforms to Limit Packer Control/Manipulation of Livestock Markets:

These provisions are outside of Harkin’s Livestock Title but may be offered as amendments during the Senate Ag Committee debate or on the Senate floor. Both the Captive Supply Reform Act and the Packer Ban would begin to correct packers’ and processors’ unfair ability to manipulate markets.

1. Captive Supply Reform Act (S. 1017): sponsored by Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY), Ken Conrad (D-ND), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Thomas Craig (ID), Charles Grassley (R-IA), Jon Tester (D-MT). Currently, formula contracts and marketing agreements are negotiated in secret. These formula contracts and agreements depress prices and shut small and independent producers out of markets when packers base the price they pay for contracted cattle on a cash market they can manipulate. The Captive Supply Reform Act would require that packers offer in their contracts a base price component and present them in an open, public manner.

2. Prohibition on Packer-Owned Livestock (S. 305) sponsored by Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Byron Dorgan (D-ND. Meat packers use packer-owned livestock as a tool for exerting unfair market power over farmers and ranchers. This practice fosters industrial livestock production and freezes independent farmers out of the markets, lowering farm gate prices to farmers and ranchers while consumer food prices continue to rise.

Please make a call today. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman need to hear from you.