OCM: Updates on GIPSA and Bayer-Monsanto merger from Capitol Hill
OCM members and supporters,
This week, USDA Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue dealt another blow to family farmers and ranchers by eliminating the GIPSA office as a standalone agency, with its duties now absorbed by the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). Perdue announced his plans to eliminate GIPSA back in September, and we immediately urged the secretary to reconsider. We raised concerns that AMS would not adequately enforce market safeguards that would protect family farmers against abusive corporate practices by the very industry that seems to be controlling AMS. AMS is the same office that has so grossly mismanaged the commodity checkoff programs.
Perdue’s latest move on behalf of big agribusiness interests follows on the heels of his withdrawal of the GIPSA Farmer Fair Practices Rules. Last week, OCM and more than 80 other farm organizations sent a letter to President Trump calling on him to undo Secretary Perdue’s injustice. Now we need you to add your voice by signing this petition to President Trump.
Photo credit: The Hagstrom Report
Tuesday morning, OCM co-hosted a standing room only audience at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., working to educate the press and policy leaders on the impact of monopoly power and helping them understand the tragic harm the proposed
Bayer-Monsanto mega-merger would cause. We moderated a panel discussion featuring National Family Farm Coalition, Federation of Southern Cooperatives, R-CALF USA, Friends of the Earth, Open Markets Institute, and Consumer Federation of America.
At the event, two new reports were released which explore the implications of the proposed merger:
- “Bayer-Monsanto Merger: Big Data, Big Agriculture, Big Problems” by Friends of the Earth, SumOfUs and the Open Markets Institute
- “Mega-Mergers in the U.S. Seed and Agrochemical Sector the Political Economy of Tight Oligopolies on Steroids and the Squeeze on Farmers and Consumers” by Consumer Federation of America
On Tuesday afternoon, we joined with Center for Food Safety and others to deliver more than 1 million petitions to the Department of Justice (DOJ) opposing the Bayer-Monsanto merger. You can still add your voice by calling the DOJ comment line at 202-353-1555 and sharing your concerns. We have a list of talking points on our webpage to help.
Call the Department of Justice.
Thanks for all you do,
Angela Huffman
Director of Communications and Research
Organization for Competitive Markets
P.S. If you are an OCM supporter but not a member yet, please consider joining us today. A generous OCM member has offered to match up to $5,000 for every dollar in contributions we receive during the month of November. That means your $50 membership will equal a $100 donation to OCM. Join us today.
Another move of corporate control of our regulatory agencies. Trump was supposed to “Make America Great Again”. It looks like he is making America great for corporations at the expense of everyone else. Pay to play is not necessary. If you are a corporation the game is all yours.