USDA has betrayed its mission of protecting the husbandman (farmers and ranchers) from abusive market power. We are now a net food importer, unable to feed ourselves. Nebraskans have been going hungry at a higher rate than national average, survey found By Elizabeth Rembert , Food, Energy and Agriculture Reporter Nebraska Public Media, Harvest Public…

October 12, 2023 Americans continue to suffer from soaring grocery prices while the largest corporations report record profits. It’s easy to point fingers at the dominant players in our food system, like meatpacking giants Tyson Foods and JBS, for raising prices on consumers. In fact, these corporations have been sued countless times for price fixing:…

R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America "Fighting for the Independent U.S. Cattle Producer" For Immediate Release October 12, 2023   R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard Phone: 406-252-2516; r-calfusa View and share this week’s update on Facebook here, Twitter here or view the web version here.   Please find below R-CALF USA’s weekly opinion/commentary that discusses why…

Who is Bob Peterson? Posted on September 13, 2023 by Mike Callicrate Who was the primary force in concentrating the beef industry, eliminating competition, and reducing cattle producers share of the consumer beef dollar? Who led the elimination of half a million cattle producers and 80,000 independent feeders? During my presentation at the annual R-CALF…

Photo courtesy of iStock. Justice Department Challenges Information-Sharing Scheme Between Meat Processors. Antitrust enforcers at the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued a data company, Agri Stats, for allegedly helping pork, chicken, and turkey processors raise prices. Agri Stats collects and shares detailed data on meat companies’ prices, wages, production levels, and profit margins. Processors allegedly…

Farmers Are Fed Up: USDA Secretary Reinforces Corporate Control of Our Food System September 28, 2023 Secretary Vilsack Says He Doesn’t Listen to His Critics — Maybe He Should POLITICO reporter Marcia Brown recently interviewed USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack on the agency’s efforts to promote competition in the agriculture industry — a topic that Farm…

Farm and Food File for the week beginning Oct. 1, 2023 Alan Guebert Beyond Meat, Inc., founded in 2009, has had almost 15 years to build a product line-up that is–as its name claims–beyond meat and, by some business metrics, it has. After all, the company, whose market capitalization was pegged at $1.3 billion when…

News | Sep 22, 2023 Carrie Stadheim  cstadheim@tsln-fre.com *The Strengthening Antitrust Enforcement for Meatpacking Act would: Amend the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 to establish specific thresholds for market concentration, allowing federal antitrust authorities to more effectively prohibit or unwind acquisitions that concentrate the meatpacking sector. Deter further meatpacking concentration by disincentivizing entrenched meatpacking interests from…

September 25, 2023 Big Beef Is Covering Its Tail As more voices join the call to reform corrupt checkoff programs, the beneficiaries of checkoff funding are scrambling to protect their slush fund.  The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) — the primary contractor for the beef checkoff — gets 70% of its funding from checkoff fees…

Bob Benenson Sep 26, 2023 Straight Talk on Fixing the Food System Greg Gunthorp, a leader in regenerative livestock production at Gunthorp Farms in northeast Indiana, spoke out powerfully on the need to support small farms during a panel discussion at the Farm Aid Festival in Noblesville, Indiana on September 23. Photo by Bob Benenson….