National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture

Calls Needed to Restore Healthy Competition, Markets and Rural Communities!

The Senate passed a farm bill with strong protections for livestock and poultry farmers. It is crucial that these gains do not get discarded in Conference Committee!

Calls Needed to Restore Healthy Competition, Markets and Rural Communities!

The Senate passed a farm bill with strong protections for livestock and poultry farmers. It is crucial that these gains do not get discarded in Conference Committee! It is especially important to get calls into those on the lists below. Just call (202) 224-3121 and ask for your Senator and/or Representative’s office. Once transferred, ask to speak to their agricultural legislative aide. Message: "I am calling to urge my Senator/Representative to support the Livestock Title of the Senate Farm Bill and oppose any efforts to strike or weaken its provisions in Conference Committee. These provisions will ensure that farmers have fair contracts and access to a healthy marketplace. Please call me at ____ to let me know if they will fight to keep the Livestock Title in the final version of the Farm Bill. Thank you."

Message: "I am calling to urge my Senator/Representative to support the Livestock Title of the Senate Farm Bill and oppose any efforts to strike or weaken its provisions in Conference Committee. These provisions will ensure that farmers have fair contracts and access to a healthy marketplace. Please call me at ____ to let me know if they will fight to keep the Livestock Title in the final version of the Farm Bill. Thank you."

If the staff person has any questions please have her call Steve Etka, with the Campaign for Contract Agriculture Reform at (703) 519-7772 or Jeri Lynn Bakken with the Western Organization of Resource Councils at (701) 376-7077.

Potential Conference Committee Members

House Democrats
Collin Peterson, MN
Mike McIntyre NC
Bob Etheridge NC
Leonard Boswell IA
Tim Holden PA
Joe Baca CA
Dennis Cardoza CA

House Republicans
Bob Goodlatte VA
Frank Lucas OK
Robin Hayes NC
Jo Bonner AL
Marilyn Musgrave CO
Jim Moran KS
Randy Neugebauer TX

Senate Democrats
Tom Harkin IA
Kent Conrad ND
Max Baucus MT
Patrick Leahy VT
Blanche Lincoln Ark
Debbie Stabenow MI

Senate Republicans
Saxby Chambliss GA
Richard Lugar IN
Thad Cochran MS
Mitch McConnell KY
Charles Grassley IA
Pat Roberts KS

Background
The House and the Senate passed Farm Bills with different competition related provisions. The Senate Farm Bill contains a very strong Livestock Title with protections for livestock and poultry farmers (see below for details). The House Farm Bill does not contain these provisions.

Starting in February, a Conference Committee made up of House and Senate members will decide which provisions make it into the Farm Bill that will go back to the House and Senate for final approval. Senator Conrad will likely be on the Conference Committee. He needs to hear from you TODAY to represent North Dakota's farmers in Conference Committee and work to keep the Livestock Title in the final version of the Farm Bill.

Provisions of the Livestock Title in the Senate Farm Bill
If the links below do not work, copy and paste them directly into your browser, making sure they are not broken by spaces or returns.

Voluntary Arbitration. The arbitration provision in the Livestock Title makes arbitration of disputes between producers and livestock and poultry companies voluntary, instead of forcing producers to sign binding, mandatory arbitration clauses as part of non-negotiable contracts. Arbitration is prohibitively expensive for producers, and limits their legal rights. Producers should be able to choose whether or not they wish to arbitrate a dispute. Protect farmers' right to defend themselves against abusive business practices — support the arbitration provision in the Livestock Title. See fact sheet at http://www.agmatters.net/CCAR/arbitration.pdf
Minimum standards for agricultural contracts and reasonable government oversight.
- Giving the producer at least three days to review or cancel a contract.
- Prohibiting companies from requiring the producer make additional investments without being offset by reasonable additional considerations.
- Requiring 90-day notice for contract termination when the producer has made a capital investment of $100,000 or more for the sole purposes of securing the contract.
Amends the Agricultural Fair Practices Act to protect the ability of farmers to negotiate fair contracts with processors. This provision enhances the power of producers and their cooperatives to stabilize farm income by making it an unfair practice for companies not to bargain in good faith with associations and protecting farmers who join or form producer associations. See fact sheet at http://www.rafiusa.org/programs/CONTRACTAG/Ag_Fair_Practices.pdf
Amends the Packers and Stockyards Act to provide enforcement authority for GIPSA over all live poultry operations. Despite evidence of the contract being used as a tool to intimidate, retaliate and reduce growers' profits to poverty levels, the Grain, Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) does not have the authority to take administrative action and protect growers by halting unfair practices or penalizing poultry companies that violate the law. The Livestock Title has an amendment to the Packers and Stockyards Act providing GIPSA with the necessary enforcement authority over poultry cases, which would simply bring poultry in line with other livestock within the Packers and Stockyards Act. See fact sheet at http://www.rafiusa.org/programs/CONTRACTAG/PSA_Reform.pdf
Prohibition on Packer-Owned Livestock. Meat packers such as Tyson, Cargill, and Smithfield Foods use packer-owned livestock as a major tool for exerting unfair market power over farmers and ranchers. Packer-owned livestock has been proven to artificially lower farm gate prices to farmers and ranchers while consumer food prices continue to rise. By prohibiting direct ownership of livestock by major meatpackers, a packer ban addresses a significant percentage of the problem of captive supply which packers use to manipulate markets, and would help increase market access for America's independent producers. See fact sheet at http://www.worc.org/pdfs/Packer Ban Myths & Facts 10-07.pdf
Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling. Country of origin labeling is a popular measure that allows consumers to determine where their food is produced and also enables U.S. producers to showcase their products for quality and safety. It also limits the ability of global food companies to source farm products from other countries and pass them off as U.S. in origin. The House and Senate Farm Bills mandate country of origin labeling to go into effect by Sept. 30, 2008, with multi-country labels where applicable.
Office of Special Council. The Livestock Title in the Senate Farm Bill creates an Office of Special Counsel for Competition and Market Access at USDA to investigate and prosecute violations of competition and fair practice laws.