Kerry vs. Corporate Hog Farms

[blm]

"We Must Protect The Family Farm Against Corporate Hog Lots"
August  12,  2003
Klemme, IA - John Kerry toured hog lots in North Central Iowa on Tuesday en route from Mason City to Webster City via Algona.  He was accompanied by farmers, environmental activists and community leaders who talked about the impact of confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) on rural Iowa.  John Kerry stood on the porch of Gloria Goll’s home to view the hog confinement facility alongside her property and see first hand the harmful effects these lots have had in places like rural Hancock County.

“Here in Iowa and all over rural America family farms and small businesses are under assault by giant corporate hog lots that use their influence to get special favors, that refuse to compete on an level playing field, that pollute the environment, and that undermine the values and way of life of small town America,” said Kerry.  “George W. Bush has protected these colossal corporate hog lots from competition at the expense of the family farms that have made America great and made our nation good.”

“It’s time we had a President who didn’t just listen to the voices of the big and the powerful, but who heard the concerns of everyday Americans and their families and the communities they call home.  That’s what the hog lot issue is all about.  And that’s why I am ready to carry on this fight until our work is done.”

John Kerry proposed a five point plan to combat the power of large corporate hog operations and help protect family farms and the rural way of life:

• Ban the packer ownership of livestock.

• Restructure the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) to ensure they benefit  family farmers, require a comprehensive nutrient management plan, and ensure that its EQIP funds are used as intended.  Payments would be lowered to benefit family farm-sized livestock operations from the current level of $450,000 per farmer down to $150,000.  Furthermore, the "partnership loophole" must be closed so that large operations can no longer allow the $450,000 limitation to be multiplied by the number of partners in each operation.  Also, EQIP funds need to be used efficiently, rather than going towards new or expanding operations, for new facilities sited in a floodplain, or for entities with multiple CAFO's.

• As President, Kerry would appoint an Attorney General who will enforce anti-trust laws if a merger reduces competition to the degree price is affected to hog producers. To that end, Kerry has called for a thorough investigation into Smithfield's acquisition of Farmland – a merger that will result in the loss of a significant buyer in the marketplace, especially for North and Northwest Iowa. 

• John Kerry will ensure that independent farmers are protected from
discriminatory pricing.  Under George W. Bush, the USDA has been dragging its feet when it comes to providing transparent information about contract deals with packers.  Small and independent farmers deserve a Department of Agriculture that doesn't disregard the need to investigate price discrimination of smaller producers.

• Ensure that the EPA and USDA that will work with the states to set and enforce
 environmental protection rules and laws that protect families and communities from practices that are harmful to our air and water quality.
In the past 6 years alone, the number of hog operations has declined by 72 percent nationally.  And two percent of the remaining hog operations control nearly half of all hog inventory.  This means these enormous corporations get huge profits while independent farmers and local entrepreneurs get left in the cold and frozen out from doing business. 

[Nicholas_J]

1. expect

A few slips to the media with statistics like this:

Dean's record, however, shows just the opposite. Remember, when Dean took office there were no Wal-Marts in Vermont; there was no Home Depots; Burlington's downtown was dominated by local stores not the national chains that now rule the roost; there were 36% more small farmers in existence; there were no 100,000-hen mega-farms; and sprawl wasn't a word on the tip of everyone's tongue.

Interestingly, Dean told the Free Press last week that he wished the rest of "the country were more like Vermont." But it certainly seems Dean has been doing his best to make Vermont more like the rest of the country.

Stephanie Kaplan, a leading environmental lawyer and the former executive officer of Vermont's Environmental Board, has seen the regulatory process under Dean become so slanted against environmentalists and concerned citizens that she hardly thinks its worth putting up a fight anymore


http://www.counterpunch.org/colby02222003.html

All the while Dean was talking about saving Vermont small farms and preserving a way of life, he had his Agricultural comissioner cutting Deans with big agri-business.

This is all slated to be opened for public awareness

[Kolesar]

2. I don't eat meat, so I will comfortably take the moral high ground here

Don't complain about hog farms with animal fat dripping off of your mouth. Industrially-produced meat is a moral horror. The animals live stressful lives in overcrowded conditions. Hog production is not as horrendous as beef from my research, but all of us could do without it. The hog farms are bad neighbors and producing all meat overuses resources such as water, petroleum, and topsoil.

Now, I will go finish my oatmeal with raisins.