Monks Jazz Club
Fairness in Farming
RECEIVED Thu., July 20, 2023
Dear Editor,
Congress is in session and we need our Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz to help us in Austin. The best thing our Texas Senators could do for us is include the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act in the Farm Bill being negotiated this very summer. The OFF Act would not end corrupt government checkoff programs to benefit lobbying organizations, but it would bring much needed transparency and accountability to secretive government programs.
This is important because our Texas farmers deserve to know where their hard-earned money is going. Unless government checkoff programs are reformed, checkoff programs will keep funneling money to large corporations like Chinese-owned Smithfield that have an ever-growing amount of power over our food system. A consolidated, corporate-controlled food system is bad for farmers, rural communities, workers, and everyone who eats in Texas. If we want to eat in the future, we should empower farmers and make checkoffs more transparent.
Thanks to lax oversight by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, checkoff boards have formed collusive and illegal relationships with lobbying organizations for the industry, handing millions in farmers’ dollars over via annual contracts. The lobbyists fight for policies that benefit certain producers to the detriment of others, encouraging food system consolidation. Through checkoffs, Texas farmers and ranchers are forced to pay into a system that actively works against them. Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz can help us in Austin to change this.
Congress is in session and we need our Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz to help us in Austin. The best thing our Texas Senators could do for us is include the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act in the Farm Bill being negotiated this very summer. The OFF Act would not end corrupt government checkoff programs to benefit lobbying organizations, but it would bring much needed transparency and accountability to secretive government programs.
This is important because our Texas farmers deserve to know where their hard-earned money is going. Unless government checkoff programs are reformed, checkoff programs will keep funneling money to large corporations like Chinese-owned Smithfield that have an ever-growing amount of power over our food system. A consolidated, corporate-controlled food system is bad for farmers, rural communities, workers, and everyone who eats in Texas. If we want to eat in the future, we should empower farmers and make checkoffs more transparent.
Thanks to lax oversight by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, checkoff boards have formed collusive and illegal relationships with lobbying organizations for the industry, handing millions in farmers’ dollars over via annual contracts. The lobbyists fight for policies that benefit certain producers to the detriment of others, encouraging food system consolidation. Through checkoffs, Texas farmers and ranchers are forced to pay into a system that actively works against them. Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz can help us in Austin to change this.
Katy Fendrich-Turner
