Corporate Farming

Consolidation in agriculture has been steadily increasing for decades, to the detriment of family and mid-size farms and ranches.

Here are some examples of our current and past work to combat consolidation and protect family farms and ranches. You may also be interested in our newsletter’s regular Corporate Farming Notes column. You can sign up for our newsletter here.

From the archives:

For more articles, check out our Corporate Farming News or browse the feed below. 

Corporate Farming Notes

 

Farm Bill Priorities

Agriculture remains an important source of economic opportunity for people in rural areas.

Learn more about our farm bill priorities. We believe the farm bill can support small towns through crop insurance reform, conservation, beginning farmers, and rural development.

Pass a new farm bill before the existing one expires on Sept. 30, 2018.

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What about our farmers?

By Johnathan Hladik on November 8, 2019 - 9:00am

Earlier this year, in the midst of a trade war with China, President Donald Trump announced a $16 billion agriculture bailout, telling Americans, via Twitter, the biggest beneficiaries would be “our great Patriot Farmers.”

Recent news reports, however, indicate foreign companies are getting a substantial amount of the bailout dollars.

From the desk of our executive director: Get big or get out, a redux

By Brian Depew on October 23, 2019 - 9:00am

Asked about the plight of dairy farmers in Wisconsin, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said, “[The] big get bigger and small go out and that’s kind of what we’ve seen here...

Everyone will have to make their own decisions economically whether they can survive.”

The Center for Rural Affairs was founded in 1973. Earl Butz was Secretary of Agriculture. Butz had a similar view, “Get big or get out.”

Butz believed farm consolidation was inevitable.

Corporate farming notes: pushing back on consolidation in the food system

By Anna Johnson on July 29, 2019 - 12:45pm

Consolidation of companies in the food system has had negative impacts for rural communities. One detriment is lack of choice and higher prices for farmers when purchasing inputs, as fewer and fewer corporations control seed and chemical production.

While wounds from consolidation are deep, understanding how and why food system corporations build power is important to regaining ground for the health of rural communities.

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