April 3, 2017 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OCM Moves Forward in Freedom of Information Case despite USDA’s Attempt to Conceal NCBA’s Abuses of Beef Checkoff Funds LINCOLN, NE – March 31, 2017 was the USDA’s court-ordered deadline to choose transparency or secrecy in a lawsuit over records from an audit initiated in 2011 of the federal…
Chris Clayton, DTN Ag Policy Editor 3/24/2017 | 3:47 PM CDT OMAHA (DTN) — Major livestock and meatpacker groups on Friday called on USDA to withdraw proposed rule changes to the Packers and Stockyards Act. The extended comment period ended Friday for an interim final rule and proposed rules under the Grain Inspection, Packers and…
March 28, 2017 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Angela Huffman, 614-390-7552 ahuffman@competitivemarkets.com WASHINGTON, D.C. – Federal lawmakers reintroduced legislation today to bring much needed transparency and accountability to the federal government’s commodity checkoff programs. The Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act, S. 741, was introduced by Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Cory Booker (D-NJ),…
March 24 Two of the world’s largest meat companies, Brazilian meatpackers JBS and BRF, have been exposed for exporting rotten beef and trying to cover it up with cancer-causing acid products. Bloomberg reports that “Brazilian prosecutors allege some sausages and cold cuts contained animal parts such as pig heads, that some meat products were adulterated…
by Joe Fassler | March 9th , 2017 How the bitter debate over a producer-funded organic “checkoff” program reveals a movement’s growing pains—and the fault lines of American agriculture The history of the organic movement has been marked by vigorous debate about the meaning of the word, which priorities matter most, and who gets to…
By Zach Carter 03/09/2017 01:26 pm ET Now Joe Maxwell is urging his party not to give up on rural America. As precinct data rolled into his war room at the Aloft Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City last November, Joe Maxwell realized his team had a landslide on its hands. He saw no need to…
By ERIC LIPTON and BINYAMIN APPELBAUM | MARCH 5, 2017 WASHINGTON — Giants in telecommunications, like Verizon and AT&T, will not have to take “reasonable measures” to ensure that their customers’ Social Security numbers, web browsing history and other personal information are not stolen or accidentally released. Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan…
Feb 14, 2017 They’re concerned about risk to economy and environment. Nearly 325 advocacy groups have signed a letter urging the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a thorough investigation into the proposed mergers of the Dow Chemical with DuPont, Monsanto with Bayer AG and Syngenta with ChemChina. The groups urged Attorney General Jeff Sessions…
It has happened before! When a bunch of upset cowboys came together and made a big fuss about a cattle market crash, the market temporarily got higher. After more than a hundred concerned cattlemen gathered for an OCM presentation on the present contrived cattle market crash in Bay Springs, Mississippi on November 15st , a…
November 16, 2016 OCM BAY SPRINGS, MS – Yesterday evening, over 100 farmers and ranchers gathered in Bay Springs, Mississippi to say “enough is enough.” With this year’s calf prices dropping to about half of what they were a year ago and putting Mississippi cattle producers’ viability in question, cattle producers learned of actions they…