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Farm Events: |
Farm News: WI Farmers Union Reacts To Senate BudgetcommentsPosted: 09.12.2011
Darin Von Ruden, President of Wisconsin Farmers Union, commended the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations for passing an agricultural appropriations bill that preserves the implementation of the USDA’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rule.
“WFU is very pleased that Senator Herb Kohl, Chairman of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, as well as the rest of the committee, kept the GIPSA rule in the Ag Appropriations Bill sent to the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations,” said Von Ruden.
“The GIPSA rule will help level the playing field for independent family farmers raising livestock by creating a fair market environment in the industry, making sure small producers have equal access to the market as larger producers. This will enable more fair and competitive trading practices.”
Von Ruden explains that “the bulk of the meat consumed in the U.S. comes from only four large, powerful companies – Tyson, Smithfield, Cargill and Brazilian beef-packer, JBS. These companies have tremendous power to dictate not just what meat is available, but how that meat is raised. They are in the business of selling cheap meat which means they pay their farmer-suppliers as little as possible for their livestock. Without GIPSA, these large meat-packers have been able to dictate the market which has been especially harmful to smaller-scale farmers.”
“We’ll see what happens when the House and Senate bills are reconciled. But, today, we laud Senator Herb Kohl, the Ag Appropriations Subcommittee and the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations for preserving the implementation of GIPSA in the Senate’s Ag Appropriations bill.”
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