One of the biggest issues facing America’s family farmers is the ever-increasing consolidation of corporate farms—or Big Ag, as some call it. If Democrats are truly interested in winning over rural voters, which they should be, this is one of the biggest issues they must focus on.
In an op-ed published in The Guardian, George Goehl, who serves as the director for People’s Action and People’s Action Institute, argued that the key for Democrats to win the Midwest is to battle Big Agriculture.
“Factory farms profit at the expense of rural communities, displacing family farmers, bypassing main street businesses and polluting the air and groundwater,” said the Land Stewardship Action Fund’s Bobby King in an interview with Goehl.
He added, “Candidates that have the courage to stand up to corporate agriculture will connect with and inspire rural people as they head into the ballot box.”
The recent election proved that the rural heartland of American remains red for now. Some farmers, like Sarah Lloyd, who also holds a Ph.D. in rural sociology, argue that Democrats remain out of touch with the needs of rural America. “As the companies become bigger and more consolidated, it limits our ability to negotiate in the marketplace, which shows up in higher prices for our inputs,” said Lloyd in an interview with The Fern.
Surprisingly, rural voters who are otherwise staunchly conservative also tend to be progressive when it comes to advocating for stronger antitrust enforcement in agriculture. Lloyd pointed out that Bernie Sanders’ Roosevelt-style trust-busting approach helped him win every single county in Wisconsin other than Milwaukee in the 2016 primary.
Below are some of the nonprofit organizations that are standing up to Big Ag. If Democrats want to start winning over rural voters, they should pay attention to what these groups are doing.
The National Farmers Union (NFU) is a 501(c)(3) progressive grassroots organization dedicated to protecting the rights of America’s family farmers, ranchers and fishers. In its 2020 policy book, NFU outlined several policy recommendations for legislators. These include establishing a moratorium on agribusiness mergers and supporting stricter enforcement of antitrust laws and competition regulation across all agricultural markets.
NFU works to empower its nearly 200,000 members to engage with and educate political candidates and elected officials on issues relating to family farmers. One of the most prominent ways it does this is through its yearly fly-in. Every fall, teams of Farmers Union members meet with members of Congress to discuss the challenges they’re facing and what their priorities are.
Due to the pandemic, the 2020 fly-in—which took place in September— was virtual, but the same principles applied. Among this year’s talking points were the extreme concentration in food production and corporate control of agricultural markets.
The Agriculture Fairness Alliance (AFA) is a vegan-backed 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that lobbies for farmers looking to transition to plant-based agriculture. While AFA has expressed its continued support for NFU’s policy recommendations, it also advocates for Congress to pass the At-Risk Farmer and Rancher Diversification and Transition Act, which is a pilot program to “aid farmers and ranchers in transitioning from animal and livestock production to plant-based agriculture conservation and alternative land use.”
According to AFA, “it is not consumer choices that are driving independent farmers out of business, but rather consolidated corporate agribusiness propped up by our taxes.” Additionally, AFA warns that the oft-repeated rhetoric of “get big or get out” is destroying America’s farms because it “chokes out small to medium-sized farmers in the form of the corporatized market.”
AFA encourages lawmakers to pass legislation that will support farmers’ transition to sustainable and diverse food production. AFA has partnered with the nonprofit, D.C.-based lobbying firm Lobbyists 4 Good, and is looking to hire more lobbyists.
Western Organization of Resources Council
The Western Organization of Resources Council (WORC) is a 501(c)(4) advocacy group with eight member organizations, including the Dakota Resource Council, the Idaho Organization of Resource Councils and the Northern Plains Resource Council.
WORC explains that corporate consolidation and conglomeration have “driven producers out of business, given consumers fewer healthy food choices and weakened American sovereignty over our own food laws.” WORC challenges the belief that the nation needs large-scale industrial agriculture and factory farms.
In addition to a robust Grassroots Democracy program, which seeks to advocate for farmer-friendly public policy and provide opportunities for farmers to engage in the political process, WORC also has a unique campaign called Homegrown Stories. Homegrown Stories is a narrative project that shares the experiences of the nation’s farmers in order to “debunk the myth that bigger is always better, affirm that stewardship of the land and commitment to community comes before investor returns, and put people ahead of profits.”
WORC also has a 501(c)(3) arm and a political action committee.
Friends of Family Farmers (FoFF) is a 501(c)(3) grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for Oregon’s family farmers. FoFF also serves as a watchdog for corporate agribusiness and seeks to hold state agencies accountable for “decisions that negatively impact Oregon’s independent small and mid-sized farmers and ranchers.” Its blog, Corporate AG Watch, works to show how Big Ag influences Oregon politics and policy.
FoFF also offers resources for communities and farmers who are interested in organizing against factory or corporate farms. One of FoFF’s biggest areas of concern is air and water pollution derived from the concentration of thousands of animals and their waste in one location. FoFF promotes “sensible policies, programs and regulations” to protect the state’s family farmers and ranchers.
The Family Farm Action Alliance is a coalition seeking to build an economy that benefits rural America. It takes action at both the state and federal levels, encouraging officials to enforce anti-monopoly laws. It also works to educate citizens about these laws so that they, too, may pressure election officials to act.
The Family Farm Action Alliance also commissioned a special report titled “The Food System: Concentration and Its Impacts,” which includes “proposals for decentralizing our agrifood system to move power out of the control of just a few.”
The Family Farm Action Alliance seeks to “transform our agrifood system from one that is monopolized and brittle to one that is democratic, equitable, ecological and resilient.”
It offers policy recommendations that include strengthening antitrust enforcement. It also has a 501(c)(4) arm called Family Farm Action that works to advance policy at both the state and federal levels. So far, Family Farm Action has assisted with drafting legislation that would place a moratorium on large agriculture consolidation.
Public Justice’s Food Program describes itself as “the only legal project in the country that is focused solely on dismantling the structures that enable the consolidation of corporate power and extractive practices in our food system.”
The program seeks to do this in three ways: litigation, changing the narrative that bigger is better, and strengthening communities. It offers guides for individuals and groups looking to oppose factory farms in their communities. It also helps organize advocates, connecting them with local and statewide groups who share similar goals.
The Public Justice Food Program is supported by the Schmidt Family Foundation, the Greenbaum Foundation and Patagonia, among others.
Land Stewardship Action Fund
The Land Stewardship Project (LSAF) is a Minnesota-based 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization. It’s the (c)(4) arm of the Land Stewardship Project.
LSAF hosted several town halls to educate and encourage voters to turn out for the general election. One of its town halls, titled “Be a Voter for Rural Communities,” included discussions with farmers and the issues small and mid-sized farms and rural communities face in America.
LSAF seeks to elect candidates that will “fight to protect the family-sized farms that we have now, who will push for more just farm economic policies that will help get more young and diverse folks who want to farm on the land, and who will fight for a people-centered economy in Minnesota.”
***
What Biden’s win means for family farmers
President-elect Biden has released his plan for rural America.
In it, he states that he will strengthen antitrust enforcement by ensuring “farmers and producers have access to fair markets where they can compete and get fair prices for their products — and require large corporations to play by the rules instead of writing them — by strengthening enforcement of the Sherman and Clayton Antitrust Acts and the Packers and Stockyards Act.”
While this sounds exactly like what the above groups advocate, it’s important to note that other politicians, including former President Barack Obama, made similar promises and failed to deliver. Biden also failed to provide any details on how he would accomplish his plans to help family farmers nor has he come out in support of banning the expansion of factory farms.
For now, much of what Biden does will depend on two key factors: whether Democrats can win two key congressional races in Georgia and who Biden chooses as his secretary of agriculture.
