Farmers Blame Ag Monopolies as Catastrophic Collapse Looms
Farmers are becoming desperate and they are not crying wolf. The wolf is right outside the door in the form of generational collapse. In Sept., a farm meeting went nuclear in Congress. Sen. Tom Cotton, Sen. John Boozman and Rep. Rick Crawford, with a Rep sent by Gov. Sanders of Ark. Sarah Sanders, blew up. 400 farmers showed up, upon only 3 days notice, left their farming responsibilities dormant, in order to express ALARM, and grievance upon grievance at what they see coming.
"Worst Economy in My Lifetime." was the hue and cry of the farmers. The USDA was accused of out and out lying, making up their own recipies of growth, etc., To that, the farmers said, "BULL****."
“This is the worst agriculture economy of my lifetime over at least the past three years, and right this minute, guys are going under — as in bankruptcy or leaving the farm,” he exclaims. “The solution is supposedly another bailout or a gap payment the following year? Wake the hell up: Where do you think that money is gonna go? It won’t go to farmers. It’ll go into supplier’s pockets.”
AgWeb Farm Journal
The small and medium farming industry is being squeezed out by the megafarming industry giants and it is increasing year by year. The term "generational collapse" is now happening.
Giant monopolies are squeezing the life out of every single thing that farmers need, to feed to seed, and including that AG giant Monsanto has sterilized all of their seed.
The agriculture industry in the United States is broken. Farmers are the foundation of it all, but they are being financially squeezed from every direction. Giant monopolies control seeds, fertilizer and machinery that they need. And they are also being squeezed by the giant monopolies that purchase most of what they produce. Meanwhile, demand from overseas has dried up thanks to the global trade war. U.S. farmers are facing a “perfect storm,” and as a result most farms are losing money and bankruptcies are surging.
Bailey Buffalo, Owner of Buffalo Grain Systems and President of Farm Protection Alliance, says the following from AG Web, Farm Journal:
Quotes range from:
- "Worst agricultural economy of my lifetime."
- "Wake the hell up."
- Where do you think the money goes? It won't go to farmers, it'll go into supplier's pockets."
- "Seed, chemicals or fertilizer, it's all in the hands of a few companies that are the only game in town."
- "You want to fix farming? Start a federal investigation of those big companies."
- "Booming quarterly earnings and big stock dividends make no sense when farmers can't pinch a penny."
- "At every level of Agriculture, there must be a reckoning."
"Politicians KNOW about the monopoly problem, but do nothing. Instead—bailouts slip into pockets of Big Ag."
Chairman of the Arkansas Rice Growers Association, says the current unrest is a "coming disaster" unlike anything he has ever witnessed.
- "I've never seen this kinda look in farmer's eyes. It's FEAR. And it's based in undeniable facts."
- Currently, farmers need a yield of `100-bushel beans, 300-bushel rise, and 300-bushels corn to stay ahead—while averages instead aree 56-bushels beans, 166-bushels rice and 175-bushels corn.
That's slightly above 50% of what is needed. - U Arkansas: Corn farmers losing $240 per acre. Soybean farmers losing $144 per acre and Rice growers losing $380 per acre. Cotton is worse yet.
Part of the problem is that international competitors hide and receive hidden subsidies. Graves is saying at every single level of agriculture, there must be a reckoning. Monsanto sterilized all seeds decades ago, forcing the closed population to be completely dependent upon Monsanto. Problems exist in the chain, from seed, to chemicals and machinery. Graves is predicting a crash and is and has been advocating for governmental intervention. NOW. It is so bad, that any upcoming crash, has the potential to destroy our agricultural industry. A Chinese spy balloon flew over the US in 2023 and politicians did nothing except shoot it down AFTER it had collected data across the country, Graves said. Again, Big AG is NOT hurting. Only the farmers.
And this is not just food crops. It is also cotton crops, which might be the worst hit of all. Each segment is reaching a tipping point of American small and medium farming, going under. The top 4 competitors control more than 40% of the market and do as they will. "We can't climb out of this mess partly because we're at the mercy of agricultural monopolies. Corn, cotton, rice and soybeans are 70%-90% controlled by corporate cartels. Over 82% of fertilizer is controlled by corporate cartels."
The only uplifting hope at this point, are the few small-seed suppliers and fertilizer suppliers who are providing great product at fractions of what the corporations charge. But they are small.
Bailey Buffalo continues: Bailouts are NOT the solution, as those same bailouts trickle right back to lenders, loans, suppliers, banks or somewhere else in the chain, the same as kicking the can down the road.
Summarizing the problem: "Farmers are literally LOSING money per acre while Big Ag is making hundreds of million of dollars and more, It is NOT sustainable, says,
These are Bailey's solutions:
1. Start with monopolies: Address at the state level and use/write specific Anti-Trust Legislation and force the Feds and force USDA to follow the state's lead.
2. Put an indefinite Moratorium on all mergers and aquisitions in both the Food and Agricutlure industries. END CONSOLIDATION.
3. Get a handle on DC Lobbyists. Lobbyists expenditures have gone from #145 million in 2019 to $177 million in 2023. Agribusiness spends more than the oil and gas industry and the defense sector, both.
In additoin, a 50year "cooling off" lobbying period should be set in stone for any Gov. officials exiting office, from Defense, to Wall Street to AG. "You should never, never be allowed to retire from an AG committee in Congress and then run over to a board at Tyson, Cargill, John Deere or any other company."
4. The grain industry must diversify. It must grow from feed and ethanol, to edible food, in order to protect our national security.
Much more at link:
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