National Farmers Union

WASHINGTON (April 17, 2007) – National Farmers Union President Tom Buis testified before the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry today on the negative effects of increased concentration and lack of competition in the agricultural marketplace and the need for Congress to take action in the next farm bill through a competition title.

Buis cited an NFU-commissioned study conducted by Drs. Mary Hendrickson and William Heffernan from the University of Missouri which found that concentration in every sector of agriculture increased, with the exception of ethanol. NFU released the study Monday. Buis credited the decrease of consolidation in the ethanol market to public policy initiatives that encourage diversification and discourage monopolization.

Buis called on Congress to immediately take necessary action to restore true competition in the marketplace for American farmers and ranchers. “Independent producers cannot be successful in the absence of protection from unfair and anti-competitive practices,” he said.

Buis outlined the provisions NFU would like to see included as part of a comprehensive competition title in the 2007 Farm Bill:

• Immediate implementation of mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for meat, produce and peanuts.
• Require USDA and all federal agencies enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act and other antitrust laws.
• Ban packer ownership of livestock to ensure independent producers have a place in the future of livestock production.
• • Restore competition by requiring contracts be traded in open, transparent and public markets where all buyers and sellers have access to the same information.
• Stronger oversight and better enforcement of the Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting Act.
• End the ban on interstate shipment of meat to increase competition and economic, marketing and trade opportunities for rural America.
• Reform mandatory checkoff programs to become a truly voluntary program that earns producers’ support and trust.
• Enhance contract producer protections by allowing producers adequate time to review contracts, prohibit mandatory arbitration, protect producers based upon membership in an organization or cooperative and prohibit confidentiality clauses.

Click here to see the complete testimony.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 17th, 2007 at 11:15 am and is filed under Economic Policy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.