House Farm Bill falls short in providing market access
By Paul Sobocinski | Guest view

The House Farm Bill (H.R. 2419) that passed July 27 took a step forward in support for rural communities by including $15 million per year in mandatory funding for community-based beginning farmer training programs.

Congressman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, along with Congressman Tim Walz, D-Minn., successfully secured beginning farmer initiatives in the House bill which also improved access to credit and conservation provisions for new farmers. These initiatives are about creating new opportunities in agriculture for the next generation of farmers.
But one place the House bill falls short is providing assurances that farmers have access to free and competitive markets. As we pass initiatives to support beginning farmers, we also need to enact policies that mean farmers have access to fair and competitive markets.

Currently, just four major companies control 80 percent of the marketplace in beef and 50 percent in hogs. The fewer packers there are to procure cattle, the more control they have over the market and the greater their ability to drive down prices through captive supplies. In 2003, captive supplies cost family farmers and ranchers more than $1.4 billion according to Western Organization of Resource Councils.

Minnesota’s senators, Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman, need to step up to the plate for all farmers and ensure that there are fair and competitive livestock markets for independent producers and contract growers. They need to:

Support Sen. Tom Harkin’s Livestock Title. One of the worst problems that farmers who raise livestock on contract face is that they are often required in the contracts provided by the corporate livestock operators and meat companies to sign away their right to take legal action in court to defend themselves against abusive business practices, and instead, are required to use an expensive and secretive private system favored by these corporations, called mandatory arbitration. Harkin’s Livestock Title would retain a farmer’s right to legal action as they determine how best to resolve disputes. The title also requires good faith bargaining between farm groups and processors.

Sign on and publicly advocate for the Captive Supply Reform Act S. 1017, introduced by Sens. Enzi, Dorgan, Conrad, Thomas and Grassley. The act would restore fair market competition for livestock contracts by requiring marketing contracts to have a fixed base price negotiated in an open public market.

Sign on and support Banning Packer Ownership of Livestock (S 305) introduced by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. A packer ban would prohibit large corporate meatpackers from owning, feeding or controlling livestock intended for slaughter. Corporate-owned livestock further concentrates the industry and undermines independent livestock producers and contract growers.

Former U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone was an advocate for competition reform and policies that would level the playing field for farmers. During the 2002 farm bill, Wellstone led efforts and twice won a ban on packer ownership on the Senate floor. Although a ban on packer ownership ended up not being in the 2002 Farm Bill due to the opposition of the House Agriculture Committee, his efforts did result in country-of-origin labeling being included. Minnesota’s two current senators, who both serve on the agriculture committee, need to exercise similar leadership.

Coleman and Klobuchar have a choice. They can choose to champion strong comprehensive solutions and return balance to agriculture markets, or they can stand by the watch the balance of control tip further toward agribusiness corporations. The time to act is now, in this farm bill.

We have to decide who we want to supply our country’s food. Do we want a few multinational corporations, or

family farmers and ranchers who follow the very traditions that make this country strong?

I encourage everyone to call or e-mail Sens. Klobuchar and Coleman and urge them to support all of these livestock provisions in the 2007 farm bill.

Sobocinski is a Minnesota livestock farmer with the Land Stewardship Project. He lives in Wabasso, Minn.

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