Latest Stories — Food & Power

Secretary Vilsack’s Chicken Rules May Come Too Late to Help Farmers

The Department of Agriculture last week finally proposed rules to protect poultry farmers from abusive and discriminatory practices by giant chicken processing companies. Called the Farmer Fair Practices Rules, the new rules come 6 years after the Obama Administration first attempted to regulate the industry, then retreated under heavy pressure from pro-Big Ag representatives in Congress. Some in the industry believe the USDA action comes too late to deliver any real change for farmers.

Poultry & Livestock, PolicyLeah DouglasJanuary 6, 2017GIPSA, OCM, tournament, Trump, USDA, chicken, poultry, Leah Douglas, eggs

Ranchers, Facing Record Low Prices, Confront Surge of Brazilian Imports

Cattle prices hit historic lows in some parts of the country in November, even as the first shipments of Brazilian beef arrived in U.S. ports after the USDA’s recent decision to lift a 13-year-old ban on that country. Ranchers say the combination will likely drive many American ranchers out of business.

Poultry & LivestockLeah DouglasDecember 8, 2016Amazon, Brazil, JBS, Leah Douglas, Beef

Independent Ranchers Take New Tack in Fight Against Pro-Big Beef Checkoff

The most recent attack by American ranchers on the Department of Agriculture’s beef checkoff tax reached a federal court two weeks ago. The suit, filed by the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R-CALF), challenges how the checkoff program operates in Montana. But the outcome of the case could reshape how the checkoff tax system operates across the whole country.

Poultry & LivestockLeah DouglasNovember 10, 2016ABI, checkoff, NCBA, R-CALF, Leah Douglas, Beef Council, Beef

The Month in Review

As the summer winds down, here’s a look at some of the biggest stories in food and agriculture consolidation.

Dairy, Poultry & LivestockLeah DouglasSeptember 1, 2016Bayer, cattle, ChemChina, dairy, DMPP, Dow, DuPont, JBS, monsanto, Syngenta, Leah Douglas

Food & Power Newsletter: Perdue Says It Plans to Treat Its Chickens Better. But Who Will Pay?

Perdue, one of the four biggest chicken companies in the U.S., last week announced plans to improve quality of life for their chickens and to kill them more humanely. Although the plans have largely been seen as a step forward in animal welfare, three big questions remain: how much will it cost to meet these new standards, who will foot the bill, and when exactly will the reforms happen?

Poultry & LivestockChris WagerJuly 7, 2016chicken, consolidation, GMO, organic, Perdue, Leah Douglas, Animal Welfare, Beer

Food & Power Newsletter: The Battle for Nebraska: Communities Take On Industrial Chicken and Pork

“We need a moratorium here in Iowa. We’ve got too many factory farms.” That’s Adam Mason, state policy director with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. He’s not alone in his desire for dramatic action to be taken against the proliferation of factory farming in his state. Communities across the country are standing up against corporate, industrial farming in their towns and cities. This growing anger is in part a response to weak state and federal protection of open and competitive livestock markets.

Nebraska's Livestock Market Faces Death by Big Meat Lobbying

Few images are more emblematic of the American heartland than that of farmers taking their livestock to market. But if Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts signs a bill passed last month by his state’s legislature, one of the last of the country’s traditional open livestock markets may soon close forever. The bill would remove one of the few safeguards that allow farmers to sell their livestock in a transparent and competitive way.

The Last State Standing Against Corporate Farming Weighs A Change

State Senator Ken Schilz introduced LB 176 in the Nebraska state legislature in January to overturn a 15-year-old law – the Competitive Livestock Markets Act – that bans corporations from owning livestock except in the days immediately before slaughter. Known colloquially as the “packer ban,” the law was intended to force corporations to buy their animals from independent producers, thereby supporting a competitive livestock market. What would the impact of this law be on hog farmers?

Poultry & LivestockLeah DouglasMarch 24, 2015Nebraska, packer ban, Smithfield, Leah Douglas, pork

Big Beef

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 their thermostats, all while lobbying to discredit oil industry critics—from environmentalists to those calling for better safety regulations or alternative energy sources.That’s a deal not even Exxon could pull off, yet the nation’s largest meat-packers now enjoy something quite like it. Today, when you buy a Big Mac or a T-bone, a portion of the cost is a tax on beef, the proceeds from which the government hands over to a private trade group called the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. How did this system come into being? And what is the NCBA doing with all that money?

Obama's Game of Chicken

Today, most chicken farmers are growing their animals on contract for huge meatpackers, a system that some farmers call "worse than sharecropping." The Obama Administration promised to investigate how concentration in the chicken industry was negatively impacting farmers. But then, mysteriously, their investigation disappeared. What happened?

Poultry & LivestockLina KhanNovember 1, 2012chicken, contract farming, tyson, Lina Khan