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farm action
Farm Action Statement on Illinois Dust Storm: a More Resilient Food System Is a Life-or-Death Matter
May 02, 2023
A dust storm in Illinois on Monday caused a deadly interstate pileup, resulting in six deaths and more than 30 people injured.
In response, the organization Farm Action issued the following statement:
“The deadly dust storm was preventable. Our staff mourns the abrupt and senseless loss of life, and our hearts go out to the communities of central Illinois.
“Incidents like these are a tragic consequence of the shortsighted practices demanded by the monopoly corporations that control our agriculture system. Industrial practices which limit crop rotation in favor of monocropping and heavy herbicide application have resulted in unprecedented soil erosion and severe weather events — which cost us not only our agricultural system’s resilience but human life itself.
“This tragedy should be a wake up call to Congress to take action in the 2023 Farm Bill. We urge them to shift funds toward practices like cover cropping and conservation buffers, which protect soil from erosion.
“If these sustainable practices were scaled up and supported by U.S. farm policies, we would see a safer and more resilient system emerge.”
The fourth pillar of Farm Action’s Fair Farm Bill campaign calls for incentivizing regenerative and sustainable agricultural practices that mitigate severe weather and empower farmers to strengthen the resilience of our food and farm system.
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Farm Action Calls for FTC to Investigate Record-High Egg Prices
In a letter to the FTC, the organization lays out economic evidence suggesting price gouging, price coordination, and other foul play on the part of dominant egg producers.
Jan 19, 2023
In response to record-high egg prices and just before testifying at an open meeting of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), today Farm Action sent a letter urging the FTC “to promptly open an investigation into the egg industry, prosecute any violations of the antitrust laws it finds within, and ultimately, get the American people their money back.”
Farm Action’s letter lays out the economic basis for its “concerns over apparent price gouging, price coordination, and other unfair or deceptive acts or practices by dominant producers of eggs,” including market giant and industry “bellwether” Cal-Maine Foods.
Examining publicly-available financial data from the egg industry, the letter determines that the supply disruption caused by the avian flu outbreak had an “apparently mild impact on the industry,” as the average size of the egg-laying flock in any given month of 2022 was never more than six percent lower than it was a year prior.”
Still, “weekly wholesale price for shell eggs climbed from 173.5 cents per dozen at the end of February to 194.2 cents in the middle of March. By the first week of April, it had reached 298 cents per dozen.” Including the avian flu outbreak, the letter states that nothing “justifies the dominant egg producers’ more than three-fold price hike.”
“For the 26-week period ending on November 26, 2022, Cal-Maine reported a ten-fold year-over-year increase in gross profits — from $50.392 million to $535.339 million — and a five-fold increase in its gross margins,” the letter states.
Instead, the letter concludes that “the real culprit behind this 138 percent hike in the price of a carton of eggs appears to be a collusive scheme among industry leaders to turn inflationary conditions and an avian flu outbreak into an opportunity to extract egregious profits reaching as high as 40 percent.”
“In the end, what Cal-Maine Foods and the other large egg producers did last year — and seem to be intent on doing again this year — is extort billions of dollars from the pockets of ordinary Americans through what amounts to a tax on a staple we all need: eggs,” the letter states. “They did so without any legitimate business justification. They did so because there is no “reasonable substitute” for a carton of eggs. They did so because they had power and weren’t afraid to use it.”
The letter asserts that it is time for action, and that the FTC has all necessary authority. “We urge the FTC to exercise the full scope of its authorities — under the Sherman, Clayton, and FTC Acts — to identify, challenge, and uproot anti-competitive arrangements that suppress competition among egg producers,” the letter states.
On the heels of this letter, Farm Action is circulating a citizen petition encouraging the FTC to investigate anticompetitive activity in the egg industry.
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162 Organizations Criticize Congress' Move to Rescind USDA Funding Ahead of a Global Food Crisis
Farm Action, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Rural Coalition, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and 157 signing organizations criticized a move by Congress to rescind between $1.6 and $1.65 billion of USDA funding.
In open letters addressed to President Biden and members of Congress, the organizations urged Congress to reconsider provisions in the Covid Supplemental Appropriations Act that take money away from essential food system resiliency programs.
Apr 05, 2022
Farm Action, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Rural Coalition, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and 157 signing organizations criticized a move by Congress to rescind between $1.6 and $1.65 billion of USDA funding.
In open letters addressed to President Biden and members of Congress, the organizations urged Congress to reconsider provisions in the Covid Supplemental Appropriations Act that take money away from essential food system resiliency programs.
"The proposed rescission will leave USDA without resources to respond to supply chain disruptions exacerbated by the instability in Europe," the letter states. "Eliminating these programs will endanger not only [farmers' and food system workers'] well-being but also the resilience of our food and farm system."
The Covid Supplemental Appropriations Act was introduced in the House in March for continued pandemic management. To pay for these efforts, the bill includes provisions that take back $1.65 billion allotted to the USDA in 2021, which amounts to 5% of USDA's total programs and operations budget. The funding recission emerged from a closed-door meeting in late March, and it would appear the Senate is following the House's lead. The White House has lent support to the move.
The organizations urged the White House and Congress to fund its ongoing pandemic efforts while honoring its "investments in a more just, equitable, and resilient food and farm system."
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Latest Meat Price-Fixing Settlement Underscores Need for Antitrust Action from Biden Administration
Feb 03, 2022
Yesterday, Reuters reported that Brazilian meatpacking corporation JBS SA settled their way out of yet another antitrust lawsuit, in which they were accused of conspiring to limit the supply of beef to inflate consumer prices and boost their profits. The multinational corporation agreed to a settlement of $52.5 million, which pales in comparison to the company's profits: in the third quarter of 2021 alone, JBS's U.S.-based beef operations delivered a gross profit of more than $1.7 billion dollars.
This is just the latest in a series of settlements paid by JBS, which has a habit of getting sued for price-fixing in every sector of its operations. In December of 2021, JBS paid $24.5 million to settle pork price-fixing claims; meanwhile, the company's U.S. gross pork profits reached $261.9 million in the third quarter of 2021. In January of 2021, JBS subsidiary Pilgrim's Pride paid $75 million to settle a poultry case, yet the company still grossed $2.9 billion in the third quarter of 2021.
"It's clear that these legal settlements are just the cost of doing business for JBS," said Joe Maxwell, President of Farm Action. "JBS's business model is built on extortion, collusion, and corruption. The Biden Administration must take action and break up corporations that repeatedly use such flagrantly illegal business practices."
JBS is the first corporation to settle as part of ongoing nationwide antitrust litigation over beef price fixing. Other defendants include Cargill Inc, National Beef Packing, and Tyson Foods. Together with JBS, these four consolidated meatpackers control over 85% of the beef processing market.
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