 Over
175 family farmers and rural citizens from Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri,
Illinois and South Dakota gathered in Ames on March 22nd to rally
against corporate power in agriculture and stand up for family farmers,
rural communities and the environment. The meeting focused on fighting
factory farms and organizing grassroots support for a ban on corporate
meatpackers owning livestock.
The meeting was organized by Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement,
Land Stewardship Project (Minnesota), Missouri Rural Crisis Center
and Illinois Stewardship Alliance, all members of the Campaign for
Family Farms (CFF).
Thousands of farmers and rural residents across the U.S. support
a ban on meatpackers owning livestock. When packers own their own
livestock, they control the market and run independent livestock
producers out of business. Moreover, when packers own their own
livestock, they raise those animals in factory farms which pollute
the air and water, drive down property values, make neighbors sick
and destroy people’s quality of life.
Guest speakers during the day included Mark Halverson, Sen. Tom
Harkin’s top agricultural policy staff and Mark Reisinger,
Sen. Chuck Grassley’s top agricultural policy staff. Grassley
and Harkin took a lead in sponsoring the ban on packer ownership
of livestock in the Senate. Jay Byers, Congressman Leonard Boswell’s
District Director, was another guest speaker. Rep. Boswell introduced
the packer ban in the House of Representatives.
The meeting focused on winning the packer ban in Congress and also
addressed air quality rules for factory farms, nuisance lawsuits,
the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), pitfalls of
production contracts, and sustainable hog production and marketing
options for independent producers.
Bill Christison, a Livingston County farmer and President of the
Missouri Rural Crisis Center, said, “Congress needs to understand
that diversified crop and livestock farmers are the backbone of
the rural economy. If they support family farmers and the environment,
they’ll support a ban on meatpacker ownership of livestock.
But if they vote against us they’ll show they’re working
for Cargill, Smithfield and Tyson.”
At the meeting, participants identified corporations and organizations
that are opposed to a national packer ban. Members of CFF have been
fighting Randy Stoecker of Prestage-Stoecker Farms/Smithfield’s
Midwest Hog Division for the past year as one of the leading opponents
of the packer ban. Smithfield is a Virginia-based meatpacking corporation
that owns more than 760,000 sows. The company is involved now in
a court battle to overturn Iowa’s packer ban law.
Because Stoecker refused to attend the public meeting and the rally,
CFF members went to his house in northwest Ames where they delivered
a letter asking Stoecker to protect family farmers and rural communities
by supporting a ban on packers owning livestock. CFF members vowed
to step up their fight against corporate concentration in agriculture.
Iowa CCI member and Hardin County livestock farmer Kurt Kelsey said,
“Randy Stoecker and other leaders of Smithfield Foods need
to see that this issue is not going away. We are going to continue
building grassroots power and fighting for a national packer ban
until we win.”
Since the meeting on March 22, CFF members are actively seeking
co-sponsors for the packer ban in both the House and Senate.
Last year, members of the Campaign for Family Farms worked hard
to get the packer ban passed through the Senate.
“The fact that we passed the packer ban twice in the United
States Senate even though we were up against some of the most powerful
people in the world in terms of financial interests shows there’s
a lot of support for this ban out there,” said Paul Sobocinski,
a Minnesota hog farmer and member of the Land Stewardship Project.
“Now we just need to make the final push.”
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