FARM ACTION FOCUS: HOW THE BIG FARMS GET BIGGER

These insurance programs are structured so that the more acreage you have to insure, the more taxpayer money you are able to get. It’s the largest and wealthiest farms that receive the lion’s share of government subsidies: 78% of annual commodity payments go to the top 10% of recipients. This imbalance exacerbates the plight smaller farms have been facing for decades: They have to get big or get out. As many are forced to abandon farming and the larger operations snatch up farmland, the ripple effects of consolidation have catastrophic impacts across rural communities and the environment.

In order to reform this abusive system, Farm Action is calling for Congress to use the 2023 Farm Bill to rein in these out-of-control programs. Now, in a new report, the Government Accountability Office is echoing many of our recommendations for crop insurance reforms. Learn more in our “News to Chew on” blog.

TAKE ACTION! SHARE YOUR FEEDBACK ON THE FARM BILL

Congress wants to hear your feedback! Simply fill out this form to share your ideas for the 2023 Farm Bill with the Senate Agriculture Committee. Not sure where to begin? You can pull out a few policies from Farm Action’s Fair Farm Bill Policy Handbook to help inform your feedback.

FARM ACTION MOVEMENT NEWS: KEEPING EGG PRICE HIKES TOP OF MIND

It’s Not the Flu, Feed, or Fuel. Profiteering Is Driving Record Egg Prices.

"With hundreds of millions of dollars missing from Americans’ pockets to enrich the profits of the egg industry’s handful of robber barons, antitrust enforcers owe the public a duty to investigate," writes Farm Action’s Basel Musharbash.

Is Corporate Greed to Blame for the Rising Cost of Eggs?

“When you zoom out, this isn’t an isolated case. Monopolies really have a stranglehold on every aspect of our food system,” said Farm Action’s Dee Laninga.

Senators Warren and Porter Demand Answers From Big Egg Over "Massive Spike" in Prices

Farm Action’s work was highlighted in a letter from Senators Warren and Porter, decrying industry practices as "a pattern we’ve seen too often since the Covid-19 pandemic: companies jacking up their prices to pad their own profits."

“Eggflation,” Explained

“What we found was that the net effect was closer to 3-4% fewer eggs in the market. It did not justify a 138% increase in the price of eggs at the grocery store to the consumers,” explained Farm Action’s Joe Maxwell.

CRITICAL LEGISLATION RE-INTRODUCED

• Senators Cory Booker and Mike Lee reintroduced the OFF Act this week to reform abusive checkoff programs that work against farmers’ and ranchers’ best interests. “For far too long, America’s farmers and ranchers have been forced to pay into government checkoff programs, only to see their dollars used against them by trade and lobbying organizations representing the world’s largest meatpackers and grain traders,” said Farm Action Fund’s Joe Maxwell in the Senators’ press releases.
• Senators Chuck Grassley and Jon Tester reintroduced the Meat Packing Special Investigator Actlast week.The bill would help fight consolidation and strengthen our antitrust laws by establishing an office within the USDA to ensure the Packers and Stockyards Act is being enforced.

FARMERS CALL FOR FOOD NOT FEED

FARM ACTION ON THE MOVE

WHAT’S THE TALK?

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance released a report revealing that through predatory tactics, dollar chains are killing off grocery stores and other local businesses, leaving communities with fewer jobs, diminished access to basic goods, and dimmer prospects for overall well-being.

More than 100 children as young as 13 years old cleaned dangerous meat processing equipment using hazardous chemicals for a sanitation company contracted by major meat and poultry producers including JBS and Tyson, reports Food Dive.

Investigate Midwest reports that agribusiness spent a record-breaking $165 million on federal lobbying last year. Industries in the “agricultural services and products” category spent the most, which includes chemical companies Corteva, Nutrien, and AgLife America.

A report by Open Markets Institute and Friends of the Earth reveals Big Ag’s plans to use carbon payment programs and farmer data to tighten its grip on the food system. Carbon market policies that support such programs do little more than allow giant agribusiness to define climate-smart agriculture and further entrench their market power.

Unsurprisingly, meatpackers are fighting to prevent USDA from passing its Packers and Stockyards rulemaking to strengthen protection for farmers — and they are doing so in part by misleading farmers and the public about the state of the law, writes Jamie Crooks in Tri-State Livestock News.

A report from the Institute for Agriculture Trade and Policy reveals that key programs that help farmers adopt sustainability practices and adapt to extreme weather remain chronically underfunded despite demand from farmers.

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