OCM: Stop the Extinction of America’s Family Farmers
For decades, federal laws protected family farmers from monopoly power in the food industry. In October 2017, the U.S. Department of Agriculture withdrew critical protections intended to shield family farmers and ranchers from abusive practices by big agribusiness corporations. In doing so, the Trump administration has thrown America’s farmers and ranchers to the wolves, telling them their family businesses don’t matter.
Farmer Fair Practices Rules
Since 1980, 90% of U.S. hog farmers and 41% of U.S. cattle producers have gone out of business, and over one million U.S. farmers have been driven off the land. 71% of America’s poultry farmers now live below the federal poverty level. A huge contributor is the fact that our agribusiness anti-monopoly law, called the Packers & Stockyards Act, is not being enforced, and farmers are not protected from predatory and retaliatory practices by the largest livestock and poultry processing companies.
The Farmer Fair Practices Rules, also known as the GIPSA rules, would have stopped this injustice by ensuring our anti-monopoly law is enforced, but the Trump administration withdrew these protections. More than 80 farm organizations, representing hundreds of thousands of farmers, called on the president to reverse this decision, but we were ignored. With the help of Democracy Forward Foundation, we are suing the Trump administration for illegally rolling back the Farmer Fair Practices Rules.
Join the Fight: Text FAIRPRACTICES to 22828
Stand with America’s Family Farmers
In November 2017, more than 80 U.S. farm organizations called on President Trump to reverse his administration’s decision to roll back protections from corporate agribusiness abuses. The administration failed to act. This is why Organization for Competitive Markets is seeking justice through the courts.
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If the American farmer is to survive, and if American consumers want to keep having access to food grown on our shores and in our communities, we have to fight for fair treatment at every level. Organization for Competitive Markets has been fighting abusive monopoly power in agriculture for almost 20 years, but there aren’t enough farmers and ranchers left to take on big agribusiness interests alone. We need your help.
