RAFI-USA

Contract Ag and Corporate Concentration Watch

 

e-Bulletin  #5       May 2002

 

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Disappointing Farm Bill Results

Kansas Passes Important Contract Producer Protections

Anti-biotic Resistance on Delmarva

Oklahoma Governor Signs Tough Water Law

Awards

Briefs

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Disappointing Farm Bill Results for Contract Growers

The Senate had it right.  It adopted two amendments to the Packers and Stockyards Act to address the great economic risks forced on contract livestock producers for approval in the new Farm Bill

 

1. A prohibition on forced arbitration clauses making arbitration a possible and voluntary method for dispute resolution (passed 64 to 31)

 

2. Limiting "confidentiality clauses" in contracts allowing farmers to seek counsel before signing the contract and also protecting all farmers who raise livestock under production contracts with packers as the P&SA now protects those farmers who market their own livestock to packers. (passed  82 to 14)

 

After 176 national, state and local organizations all across the nation signed on to a letter urging the Farm Bill Conference Committee to include the above two common-sense amendments in the final Farm Bill, and after the full Senate adopted the two amendments by very large majorities noted above, the Conference Committee chose to include only one of the amendments and ignored the most important of the two – the prohibition on forced arbitration clauses in livestock production contracts! 

 

We asked the Conference Committee to promote fairness in production contracts by changing "mandatory arbitration" to "voluntary arbitration" in livestock contract arbitration clauses.  A small change – with no cost to the taxpayers!  It was either ignored or traded off for other parts of the bill.  As Senator Grassley (R-Iowa) asked, "Who (on the Conference Committee) wants a pat on the back from the packers(processors) for dropping these items from the Conference Report?  I am sure the packers are really proud of you, whoever you are.  Don’t worry about the independent livestock producers; they won’t be around much longer anyway."

 

The good news is that the issue has been raised to the national level and the struggle is gaining allies.

 

Chris Campany said it well.  "The issues that were the greatest source of debate among the conferees -- the ban against meatpacker ownership of livestock, real limitations on commodity program payments, the rights of farmers in contracts with industry, the creation of the new Conservation Security Program, and keeping the Environmental Quality Incentives Program from becoming a major subsidy for the biggest factory livestock operations -- are issues that the grassroots put on the table and which the conferees could not ignore.  We got all of these issues into the Senate farm bill, and kept them on the table until the very end of the negotiations within the Farm Bill conference committee.  We ultimately lost all of these but one, the Conservation Security Program, but the wheels of change have been set in motion! (Emphasis by MC)

 

Contract growers owe thanks to Steve Etka, Coordinator of the Campaign for Contract Ag Reform and to all those with the Sustainable Ag Campaign who championed our cause and kept our issues on the table in Washington.

 

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Big Win in Kansas

On April 25th, Kansas Governor Bill Graves signed into law the first contract poultry producer protection act since the Iowa-led model bill was signed by 16 State Attorneys General in 2000.  Several other states have attempted to pass a version of the model bill, but have been unsuccessful. Seven production contract bills were introduced into the Georgia legislature’s last session, but all died when the session ended a few weeks ago.

 

+++++The Bill passed in the House by 108 –13 and in the Senate by 39-1++++++ 

 

The bill, a substitute bill for HB2123, gives producers (growers) the right -

-to associate with other producers to address problems,

-to seek professional advice before signing the contract

-to access the Kansas courts with civil claims against the companies and be awarded attorney fees, litigation expenses, and all legal and equitable relief

-to voluntarily use arbitration to settle disputes

-to be free from contract termination if grower has complied with all contract provisions

 

The stunning victory is the result of three years of building coalitions around the state on the issue, holding hearings, making the producer protections a top priority on the agendas of Kansas NFO, Kansas Family Farmer Coalition, KS NFU, the Kansas Grange, KS Cattleman’s Assoc., church groups, consumer groups, Kansas Rural Center, and others. 

 

The Southeast Kansas Turkey Growers, Attorney Clay Fulcher of Arkansas, and Mary Clouse with the Rural Advancement Foundation Internat’l-USA in North Carolina testified at hearings arranged by the KS Legislature’s Special Committee on Agriculture.  A special educational campaign over a two-year period featured Professor Neil Harl and others who brought to light the importance and urgency of the problem with contract production.

 

Missouri State Representative Wes Shoemyer applauded the Kansas Bill saying, "I believe that producers are at such a disadvantage when writing contracts and dealing with these Mega Firms that we should offer basic human rights to all producers.  I believe this is fair, but moreover, I believe it is just the right thing to do."  Shoemyer hopes that the Kansas bill will give spark to similar legislation in Missouri.

 

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Oklahoma/Arkansas Clean Water War

Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating recently signed a bill approving a phosphorus limit of 0.037 parts per million in the state’s rivers to be achieved in 10 years.  The level now is nearly seven times that in places.  Keating said that the bill is needed because voluntary regulations have not worked.

 

The rules are aimed at reducing phosphorus levels especially in the Illinois River that flows into Oklahoma from Arkansas.  A 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision said that upstream states are subject to down-river water quality regulations.

 

Governor Huckabee of Arkansas says that the phosphorus limit is impossible to attain without restricting growth in booming northwestern Arkansas, the home to many businesses and hundreds of poultry farms.  "You’d have to bulldoze every house, business and highway in Northwest Arkansas and relocate everyone out of the area to meet those standards," he said.

 

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Antibiotic Resistance from Chicken Farms

Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Ellen Silbergeld, has planned a study "aimed at understanding how antibiotic resistance emerges and spreads through farms and beyond" and is recruiting volunteers from the Delmarva poultry farms and communities for the study.  She has completed a study of chicken workers and community members to see if their exposure to the birds and manure has infected them with resistant bacteria

 

The results of this study showed that Campylobacter jejuni (a bacterium not usually found in healthy people but common to chickens and other farm animals) was found in:

41% of the chicken catchers 

63 % of processing plant workers

100% of community members who lived near the plant

 

Silbergeld’s new study will determine where the bacteria come from – hospitals or farms.  A microchip is being designed that will enable the researchers to trace the path of the bacteria through their evolution from local farms and hospitals.  The researchers will also test the bacterial genes from dirt, dust, groundwater and air samples.

 

While some poultry companies have announced that they are cutting back on the use of antibiotics for non-therapeutic purposes, the Union of Concerned Scientists reported last year that U.S. livestock producers use 24.6 million pounds of antibiotics every year for non-therapeutic purposes or 70% of the total used in the country.

 

Send for copies of the article below:

"Ellen Silbergeld: Resistance Fighter", Johns Hopkins Public Health, spring 2002; pub. by Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe St. W1600, Baltimore, MD 21205

 

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AWARDS!  Delmarva Poultry Justice Alliance Takes Two

The Johns Hopkins Center For A Livable Future 2001 Award was presented to the Delmarva Poultry Justice Alliance for "outstanding work in advancing our understanding of the complex interactions between humans and their environment."  The DPJA has worked to expand the definition of "environment" to include not only our natural environment (land, air and water), but also our industry-made environment such as poor plant working conditions, unsustainable and dangerous poultry farms, and the industry’s effect on surrounding communities.  The award was made on April 10, 2001 at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore MD.

 

The 2002 Bishop’s Award from the Delaware Episcopal Diocese was given to the Delmarva Poultry Justice Alliance for their work to bring about a fair and just poultry industry, and especially to Executive Director, Carole Morison for her personal commitment and dedication to the cause.  The organization was awarded $1500 and a certificate signed by the Bishop.

 

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BRIEFS:

 

Brazil moving up in poultry production

Brazil is now the lowest-cost producer of chicken meat in the world by far according to a report in WATT Poultry USA’s April 2002 issue, "Brazil: The Export Juggernaut" by Economist Paul Aho, Ph.D.  Brazil could become the world’s leading exporter of chicken within the next 4 yrs. according to the article.  

 

Farming under production contracts

 One poultry grower reports that to upgrade his four poultry houses, he had to remove the side curtains and build solid walls, add tunnel ventilation and cool cell evaporative systems.  It wasn’t long before the floors of the houses were wet and the chickens sick.  He was then ordered to tear off the solid wall on the south side of each of the houses and replace the curtains.  Each house is a football field and a half long.  Imagine the work and the expense to the grower to run that experiment for the poultry companies!

 

Suggestions for Changes in the Poultry Industry

Gary Thornton, editor of the WATT Poultry USA magazine, lists in the April 2002 issue the 7 poultry contract recommendations from the Farmers Legal Action Group, Inc. in its section of the large USDA study of broiler contracts.

 

Thornton suggests that poultry companies should work on the more doable items on the list.  "It is better to be magnanimous now that to later have bureaucrats in Washington writing regulations."

 

In the study, FLAG recommends that poultry companies and governing bodies -

1. Encourage collective bargaining between growers and companies

2. Give growers complete and understandable information on key aspects of the grow-out arrangement

3. Insure effective enforcement of the laws currently on the books

4. Reform the use of the ranking system to determine pay

5. Make the statutory trust securing grower pay available to address disputes over inaccurate payment calculations

6. Increase grower awareness of dispute resolution processes and reform as needed

7. Reduce grower risk with respect to company-mandated capital improvements.

[See "Assessing the Impact of Integrator Practices on Contract Poultry Growers" publication at   www.flaginc.org ]

 

 

National Poultry Justice Alliance officially formed April 11, 2002

Initially begun two years ago, the National Poultry Justice Alliance is up and running now as a much needed umbrella group for the work on justice issues in the poultry industry nationwide.

 

The goal of the NPJA is to coordinate efforts of organizations dedicated to bringing justice to the poultry industry.  The NPJA includes religious groups, community-based organizations, labor unions, associations of poultry farmers, legal advocates, civil rights groups, and immigrant rights groups to advocate for a living wage and benefits, improved working conditions, fair contracts, dignity and respect for all of the people who make the industry profitable.

 

Presently, the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice is convening the Alliance.  Leone Bicchiere of the NICWJ is acting as Co-ordinator of the group.  For more information, call Leone at 773-728-8400 or email at leone@nicwj.org.

 

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