Tell Your Representative the Farmers Must Have a Comprehensive Competition Title!

November 22, 2009 Subject: Dear Representative, I urge you to support the inclusion of a comprehensive Competition Title in the Farm Bill because farmers and ranchers need a healthy marketplace to make a decent living. Currently, a small handful of corporations overwhelmingly dominate our food supply and there is also a rapid trend toward vertical integration. Manufacturers, processors, and packers increasingly control all stages of production and inventory through commodity ownership and one-sided contracts. This corporate control of production unnecessarily eliminates market transparency, creating an environment ripe for price manipulation and discrimination. It replaces farm-level decision making with centralized corporate planning and leaves farmers trapped in long-term debts tied to short-term, non-negotiable production contracts. In addition, top retailers and packers increasingly engage in relationships with dominant suppliers that exclude smaller competitors and minimize price competition. Because both supply and demand are controlled by the same few players in the market, the basic principles of supply and demand cannot function. Farmers, ranchers, and consumers across the country are asking for legislative reforms to ensure fair markets and a competitive share for family farmers and ranchers of the $900 billion dollars that consumers pay into the food and agriculture economy annually. Market reforms remain a key ingredient for rural revitalization and meaningful consumer choice. The legislative reforms summarized above are key to achieving the goals of promoting an economically healthy and diverse agricultural production sector and providing consumers with healthy, affordable food. To address these problems, I urge you to support the inclusion of a comprehensive Competition Title in the farm bill to include the following items and to co-sponsor H.R. 357, 2135, and 2213. - Captive Supply Reform Act (H.R. 2213) - Prohibition on Packer-Owned Livestock (S. 305) - Fairness Standards for Agricultural Contracts (H.R. 2135) - Clarification of "Undue Preferences" in the Packers & Stockyards Act (PSA) (H.R. 2135) - Closing Poultry Loopholes in the Packers & Stockyards Act (PSA) (H.R. 2135) - Bargaining Rights for Contract Farmers (H.R. 2135) - Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting - Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (H.R. 357) Thank you. We will add your signature from the information you provide.		First Name* Last Name* Email* Street* Street 2 City* State/Province* Select a state Alabama Alaska American Samoa Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware D.C. Florida Georgia Guam Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Northern Mariana Islands Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virgin Islands Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Armed Forces (the) Americas Armed Forces Europe Armed Forces Pacific Alberta British Columbia Manitoba Newfoundland New Brunswick Nova Scotia Northwest Territories Nunavut Ontario Prince Edward Island Quebec Saskatchewan Yukon Territory Other Zip/Postal Code* Send an Email Send a Fax Add me to the following list(s): Send me more information from RAFI-USA