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john@nebraskafarmersunion.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 5, 2007 Lincoln, Nebraska

Farmers Union Calls for Strong Ag Market Reforms in Senate Farm Bill

LINCOLN/WASHINGTON (September 5, 2007) –Nebraska and National Farmers Union joined nearly 200 like-minded organizations from across the country urging members of the Senate Agriculture Committee to include a strong livestock competition title in its version of the 2007 Farm Bill. In a letter sent Tuesday to committee leaders, the groups called upon the committee to provide the leadership necessary to facilitate fair and transparent livestock and poultry markets.

“Increasingly, we’re seeing our agricultural markets dominated by just a few large companies, leaving independent family farmers and ranchers without competitive markets,” NFU President Tom Buis said. “Enacting policies that restore competition in agriculture and enforcement of existing laws will benefit not just the family farmer or rancher, but will provide economic opportunities throughout the countryside.”

NEFU President John Hansen said, “The worse agricultural market concentration gets, the less federal regulatory agencies like USDA’s Packer and Stockyards Division and the anti-trust division of the Justice Department seem to do about it. Both regulatory agencies have failed to provide America’s farmers and ranchers with agricultural markets that are fair, accessible, transparent, and competitive. No matter how much market consolidation and concentration happens, no matter how much vertical and horizontal integration happens, they fail to act. When federal regulatory agencies fail to do their jobs, then Congress must step in. When the Eighth Circuit Court strikes down I-300 in Nebraska, Amendment E in South Dakota, and a ban on packer feeding in Iowa, it is obvious we need a strong Congressional response. Rural America is being destroyed by corporate consolidation and price manipulation,” Hansen said.

A coalition of groups has been organized for many years in calling for a comprehensive livestock title to be included in a farm bill. In their letter, the groups urged the following provisions be included in the Senate farm bill:

Chairman Harkin’s proposed livestock title. The proposed title modernizes the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 and the Agricultural Fair Practices Act of 1967 to improve markets and enforcement of existing antitrust laws in agriculture.
Ending price manipulation. Enacting the Captive Supply Reform Act, the ban on packer ownership of livestock and resolving a judicial conflict will help protect producers from market manipulation.
Include House country-of-origin labeling (COOL) provision in Senate bill. The House-passed bill includes a provision to, after repeated delays, finally implement mandatory COOL.

NFU is hosting its annual fall fly-in later this month, with more than 200 Farmers Union members from across the country, including Nebraska, will be traveling to Washington, D.C. to meet with lawmakers. Enacting a strong livestock competition title will be a top priority during Capitol Hill office visits.

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