by Grant Gerlock | November 7, 2017 The Trump administration is following up on promises to ease agriculture industry regulations. The latest rule to be withdrawn would have made it easier for producers to raise objections if they thought meatpackers weren’t giving them a fair price. Between the time a cut of steak or pound…
by Joe Fassler, H. Claire Brown | October 17th , 2017 On Tuesday, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it was withdrawing the Farmer Fair Practice rules—or the Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration (“GIPSA”) rules, as they’re more commonly known—effectively saying, “Know what? Never mind.” It was a devastating blow to…
By Tim Carpenter | September 5, 2017 TONGANOXIE — Tyson Foods executives and government leaders divulged details Tuesday of a $320 million chicken processing plant to be constructed in Leavenworth County that could generate 1,600 jobs in northeast Kansas after starting production in mid-2019. The 300-acre project south of Tonganoxie near Interstate 70 would have…
By Deena Shanker and Polly Mosendz | August 14, 2017, 3:00 AM MDT Big poultry and meat producers have absorbed many of the organic grocer’s practices—and become its suppliers. Whole Foods Market Inc. doesn’t just sell chickens. It sells shoppers on the idea of chickens raised and treated better than prevailing standards: no antibiotics, no…
by Ronnie Cummins The large meat industry interests have monopolized the market by brainwashing the public into believing that cheap meat, from animals raised on brutal factory farms, is the best we can do. It’s a lie. For the first time since the advent of industrial agriculture, the federal government is considering advising Americans to…
By PATRICIA COHEN MAY 29, 2017 Waves of Asian, African and Latino newcomers have filled jobs at pork, egg and turkey plants where wages have fallen and work has grown more grueling. STORM LAKE, Iowa — When Dan Smith first went to work at the pork processing plant in Storm Lake in 1980, pretty much…
May 5, 2017 By Steven M. Sellers Large factory farms increasingly occupy rural landscapes once dotted with small family farms, and their concentrated waste has produced a wave of toxic tort litigation. Known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, the facilities confine and raise large populations of livestock. Environmentalists say these operations supply food to such…