Fair Treatment of Local Farmers

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, I rise tonight in support of the Biden administration's new guidance regarding the Packers and Stockyards Act, and heartened that the administration took swift and decisive action to protect small farmers and local producers. Too often, local farmers suffer economically at the expense of large integrators that practice oppressive tactics in the marketplace and thwart the ability of small producers to flourish.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed great frailties in our food supply chains. And while Americans are paying higher prices, 14 percent on beef, 12 percent on pork, and 6.6 percent on poultry, the country's top four largest meat processors have increasingly gained the lion's share of the market since the 1970s. They control the entire market, the largest producers.

Meanwhile, poultry giants Tysons and Purdue recently settled a $35 million lawsuit in which local contract growers cited the combination of low wages and the financial demands of compliance with the companies' barn standards that unjustly pushed them into a debtor's prison.

The action taken by the administration will help smaller farmers stand strong, achieve fair contracts, and come forward to speak their truth, without the fear and threat of retaliation.

Congratulations to the Biden administration for doing something that is fair and just.

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