Apr 11 2025 April 11, 2025 April 11, 2025 NoComment by Mike Callicrate

News Roundup: Bayer-Monsanto’s “Gag Laws” Are Silencing Farmers

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lus: The EATS Act has been reintroduced under a new name.

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BAYER-MONSANTO’S "GAG LAWS": SILENCING FARMERS AND SHIELDING CORPORATIONS
Bayer has been embroiled in lawsuits since acquiring Monsanto amidst the ongoing controversy surrounding its weedkiller, Roundup. The company is facing 177,000 lawsuits alleging that Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, causes cancer. But instead of addressing the issue, Bayer is simply paying lobbyists to change the rules of the game.

Bayer’s strategy includes pushing for legislation to make it much more difficult for farmers and the public to sue agrichemical manufacturers and appealing to the Supreme Court to limit legal claims. Laws shielding pesticide manufacturers from litigation have been introduced in at least eight states this year, with drafts circulating in more than 20, in addition to the federal Agricultural Labeling Uniformity Act (H.R. 4288).

The battle over Bayer’s "Gag Laws" is about more than just lawsuits—it’s about accountability, transparency, and the rights of farmers. As the debate continues, it’s crucial to understand the implications of these proposed laws and support farmers’ right to seek justice when harmed. This push to limit legal recourse threatens not only farmers’ livelihoods but also public health and the integrity of our food system. Check out our “News to Chew on” blog to learn more.
 

DEFEAT EATS COALITION CONDEMNS NEWLY UNVEILED EATS ACT, THE FOOD SECURITY AND FARM PROTECTION ACT

The EATS Act was so unpopular that legislators are scheming to pass the bill under a new name: the Food Security and Farm Protection Act.
This attempt at federal government overreach would override popular state-based initiatives like California’s Proposition 12 that create market opportunities for independent farmers who raise livestock in cage-free systems.
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“Despite the sponsors’ attempt to conceal the unpopular EATS Act with a new bill title, the text is identical and its effect is the same: preventing states from protecting their farmers, consumers, animals, and rural communities. Passage of this bill would further disadvantage independent farmers, trample states’ rights, [and] disregard the will of voters across the country,” said the Defeat EATS Coalition in a statement.
 

FARM ACTION MOVEMENT NEWS
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Benedict Smith, The Telegraph

The Reason Egg Prices Are So High in the US — And It’s Not Just Bird Flu
“We believe it’s essentially an egg cartel that is controlling the egg markets at this point…Dominant corporations have used this opportunity of avian flu to really increase their prices,” said Farm Action’s Sarah Carden.
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Taylor Nicole Rogers, The Financial Times

Steep Fall in Price of Eggs Prompts Questions for US Producers
“They get all they can until someone sees their hand in the cookie jar, and then they will back off real quick,” said Farm Action’s Joe Maxwell.
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Lisa Held, Civil Eats

Exclusive: Senator Cory Booker Introduces Bill to ‘Honor Farmer Contracts’
Farm Action Fund led a letter signed by 352 farm and food groups urging Congressional agriculture committees to support legislation to release frozen USDA grant funds and prohibit the termination of existing contracts.
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John Dobberstein, No-Till Farmer

Farm Groups, Lawmakers Press USDA on Frozen Payments
Farm Action Fund said USDA’s frozen contracts cover a broad range of programs, such as cover crops for soil health and assistance for young and beginning farmers.
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Breitbart

White House to Use Real Eggs in Easter Event
Farm Action said while avian flu has been cited as the primary driver of skyrocketing egg prices, its actual impact on production has been minimal.
 

FARM ACTION FUND’S LEGISLATIVE ENDORSEMENTS
In our fight for a food and farm system that works for everyone—not just a handful of corporations—we develop and advance legislation that lifts up our nation’s farmers, ranchers, and rural communities. Below are Farm Action Fund’s first bill endorsements in the new Congress:
  • American Beef Labeling Act (S.421): This bill would reinstate mandatory country of origin labeling for beef.
  • Honor Farmer Contracts Act (S.1172): This bill would require the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to immediately release frozen federal grant funds and maintain their existing contracts with farmers, and would also require 60-day congressional notification and justification prior to closing any Farm Service Agency or Natural Resources Conservation Service offices.
  • LOCAL Foods Act (S.1212): This bill would update the Federal Meat Inspection Act’s ‘Personal-Use Exemption’ to better support small-scale meat producers in rural communities.
  • Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act (S.1312): This bill would establish a new office at the USDA to prevent anticompetitive activity in the meat and poultry industry.
  • Save Our Small Farms Act (H.R.2435): This bill expands access and introduces critical improvements to farm safety net programs for smaller and more diversified farm operations.
  • Security and Oversight for International Landholdings Act (S.1012): This bill would increase oversight and transparency of foreign direct investment in agricultural land in the U.S.
Check out Farm Action Fund’s Legislative Endorsements page for more information.
 

WE TOLD CONGRESS: REJECT COSTLY REFERENCE PRICE HIKE IN BUDGET RECONCILIATION
The largest corporate farming operations rake in too much taxpayer money as it is, so we sent a letter urging Congress to reject reference price increases with a coalition of farm, conservation, and taxpayer organizations. While we support carefully targeted farm safety net programs, too often, this money is funneled to the largest corporatized farm operations in the country instead of supporting small, mid-size, and independent farms.
 

LOCAL LEADER SPOTLIGHT: SEAN DENGLER
Farm Action’s Local Leaders is a group of more than 100 farmers, ranchers, food system workers, and advocates across the country who help inform our policy work. This week, we are featuring Local Leader Sean Dengler, who shared how monopolies drove out his family’s fifth-generation farm in an op-ed for the Des Moines Register.
Sean lives in Iowa, where, up until this year, he had taken over his family’s farm. It did not take Sean long to realize that a smaller farm like his family’s could not compete in today’s heavily concentrated markets.

He says he wrote this op-ed to advocate for change to our corporate-controlled food and farm system, which is wiping out farmers and hollowing out rural communities in the process.
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Going forward, Sean is looking to work in policy to advocate for reforms that will help keep smaller farmers in business.
 

WHAT’S THE TALK?
Here’s what the Farm Action team has been reading:

The Associated Press reports that egg giant Cal-Maine admitted it is under investigation for egg price hikes in its Q3 report, following Farm Action’s calls for a DOJ probe. Meanwhile, its quarterly sales more than doubled and gross profits more than tripled compared with its Q3 in FY24.

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance created an interactive map and database of state antitrust laws to give policymakers and advocates a guide to the anti-competitive conduct their states prohibit and areas where lawmakers could strengthen laws.

Food & Power reports that the Trump administration canceled $1 billion in grants for schools and food banks to buy local food, as well as this year’s round of Patrick Leahy Farm to School grants—which would have distributed $5 million to help schools develop and implement local food purchasing programs or school gardens.

Investigate Midwest’s deep dive explores how Sygenta, one of the world’s most profitable pesticide companies, leveraged its abusive levels of power to stomp out its competition and prevent cheaper options from reaching farmers.
 
Our work is made possible by supporters like you. Please consider making a donation to fund our fight to create a food system that works for everyone, not just a handful of powerful corporations.
 
Written and edited by: Jessica Cusworth, Angela Huffman, and Emma Nicolas

ABOUT US
Farm Action develops and advances bold solutions to stop corporate monopolies and empower farmers, ranchers, and rural communities. Our political partner organization, Farm Action Fund, is building the political muscle to take action in our state and federal capitols and at the ballot box.
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Together, our farmer-led organizations represent a seamless chain of action from research and policy development, to the adoption of the policy through legislative action by elected officials who support our vision.
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