Strengthen anti-monopoly laws to favor independent farmers

Obama's looking out for the little guy

Updated: Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 | By Catharine Richert

On the campaign trail, Barack Obama said he'd be looking out for family farms.
 
Indeed, smaller farming operations are increasingly having trouble competing with large-scale farming operations. Part of the problem is that the big farms can offer lower prices for their goods -- take corn for example -- nudging out family farms that have higher production costs and can't afford to sell their crops at deep discounts.
 
To solve this problem, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Justice recently announced a series of workshops to explore issues of competition in the agriculture industry. 
 
Additionally, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced in early December 2009 that the USDA's Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration has published a final rule to increase fairness and equity in the poultry industry. Poultry processors frequently contract with poultry farmers to raise chickens, but the farmers have long complained that these contracts are unfair because they often require mandatory arbitration to settle disputes, which can be costly to family farms.
 
So far, the Obama administration is off to a good start in keeping this promise, but we're going to wait and see where this one goes. For now, we'll rate it In the Works.

Sources:

U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA and Justice Department to Hold Public Workshops to Explore Competition Issues in the Agriculture Industry , Aug. 5, 2009

USDA, Final Rule: Poultry Contracts; Initiation, Performance, and Termination , Dec 2, 2009