Campaign for Family Farms
c/o Land Stewardship Project
Taking Action on
Corporate Power in Agriculture
Saturday, March 22
12:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Best Western Starlite Village
I-35 & 13th Street, Ames, IA (Exit 133 off of I-35)
Join family farmers and rural citizens from across the Midwest to help
fight factory farms and ban corporate meatpackers from owning
livestock.
On Saturday, March 22, hundreds of family farmers and rural residents from
across
the Midwest will come together in Ames, Iowa, to take action on corporate
concentration in agriculture.
Today, the six largest meat packers (Tyson/IBP, Cargill, ConAgra, Farmland,
Smithfield, and Hormel) own 1.5 million sows and control 87% of the hog
market.
The first four of these companies control 80% of beef slaughter. As a
result,
independent producers have seen prices crash and markets dwindle. Family
farmers
are being driven out of business while rural communities are overrun with
large
factory farms and left with air and water pollution, decreased property
values,
health problems, and a reduced quality of life. We need a ban on packer
ownership
of livestock and we need it now.
It's time to come together to put heat directly on corporate power and stand
up
for family farmers, rural communities and the environment. At the meeting
we'll
focus on what it will take to win the packer ban and have an update on the
pork
checkoff court case. We'll also address several topics facing family farmers
and
rural communities in break-out sessions about key issues. Topics for the
break-out sessions will be:
1. Environmental Quality Incentives Program.
This session will discuss how family farmers can use this program and how we
can
keep factory farms from getting this money.
2. Air Quality & Nuisance Lawsuits.
We will discuss these important issues and how people can use them to
protect
themselves from large-scale corporate factory farms.
3. Raising and marketing sustainable family farm livestock & production
contract
issues.
During this session, we will talk about production and marketing strategies
for
independent producers. In addition, we will take a look at issues with
production
contracts.
To address passing the packer ban in Congress, we've invited:
? U.S. Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) Lead author of the national packer
ban
bill
? U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) Co-Sponsor of the national packer ban bill
? U.S. Representatives Leonard Boswell, Jim Nussle, Jim Leach, Tom Latham
and Steve King
? Steve Moline, Iowa Attorney General's Office
Discussing Smithfield's attempt to end Iowa's Packer Ban
? Also invited is Randy Stoecker, CEO of Prestage-Stoecker Farms
(representing
Smithfield). We will let Stoecker and Smithfield know that we want them to
stop
fighting the packer ban.
Registration for the event is $5.00. Fill out and send in the enclosed
registration form to The Campaign for Family Farms c/o Land Stewardship
Project,
2919 E. 42nd St., Minneapolis, MN 55406. For more information call LSP at
612-722-6377.
Erin E. Jordahl
Director, Iowa Chapter Sierra Club
3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280
Des Moines, IA 50310
515-277-8868
[log in to unmask]
www.iowa.sierraclub.org
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