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Agricultural News


New Jersey Senator Cory Booker Wants to Place an Immediate Moratorium on Large CAFOs and Phase Them Out by 2040

Tue, 17 Dec 2019 05:27:46 CST

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker Wants to Place an Immediate Moratorium on Large CAFOs and Phase Them Out by 2040 According to a news release from his official Senate website, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) today unveiled legislation to revitalize independent family farm agriculture and ensure a level playing field for all farmers and ranchers. The Farm System Reform Act of 2019 would, among other things, strengthen the Packers & Stockyards Act to crack down on the monopolistic practices of multi-national meatpackers and corporate integrators, place a moratorium on large industrial animal operations, sometimes referred to as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), and restore mandatory country-of-origin labeling requirements.


Senator Booker is the former Mayor of Newark- and has never lived in a rural setting or been engaged in farming or ranching. His home town of Harrington Park, NJ is just a few miles from New York City and Newark- he left the east coast to play football at Stanford University- came back to the Ivy League to attend Law School- then moved to Newark and became a Community Organizer before getting into politics. He has proposed more than one major structural change to modern production agriculture- including major reform of commodity checkoff programs, reforming the EQIP Program to redirect Federal dollars to small farm operations and to declare an indefinite moratorium on acquisitions and mergers in the food and agriculture sector.


One rancher and small feedlot operator from Kansas is quoted by the New Jersey Senator in support of his legislation- "I have seen first-hand how hard it is to challenge the multinational corporations who control the meat industry," said Mike Callicrate, Kansas Rancher. "Farmers and ranchers need a marketplace that compensates them fairly and Senator Booker's Farm System Reform Act is a big step in the right direction. Things like country of origin labeling on meat, updates to the Packers and Stockyards Act, and resources to get folks out of a system that is bankrupting them will make a big difference."


Among the reforms is the first-ever nationwide ban on factory farms. In May of 2018, Food & Water Watch identified the need for a ban on factory farms and launched the first national campaign dedicated to stopping these destructive facilities. The group applauds Senator Booker for recognizing the role stopping factory farming must play in fixing our nation's food system.



"Factory farming is at the heart of climate disaster. It fuels toxic air pollution and water contamination, feeds off of dangerous and unfair working conditions, wreaks havoc on independent farmers and rural communities, threatens food safety, and causes unnecessary animal suffering," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Action. "The Farm System Restoration Act is the bold approach we need."



FSRA bans factory farms by placing an immediate moratorium - or "pause" - on the construction of new or expanding large factory farms while also initiating a phaseout of existing large factory farms by 2040. It includes $100 billion for farmer buyouts and debt forgiveness over the span of 10 years, along with programs for transitioning to alternative and healthy agriculture activities like pasture-based livestock, specialty crop cultivation, or organic commodity production.



Other essential components of FSRA include mechanisms to:

    
Hold meat companies responsible for harm caused by the factory farms that raise their animals
    
Provide a $100 Billion voluntary buyout program for contract farmers who want to transition away from factory farms
    
Strengthen the Packers & Stockyards Act to protect family farmers and ranchers:

        Prohibit the use of unfair tournament or ranking systems for paying contract growers
        Protect livestock and poultry farmers from retaliation if they raise concerns about their contract or join together in grower associations
        Prohibit meatpacker ownership of livestock more than 7 days prior to slaughter
        Prohibit meatpackers from buying livestock for slaughter using unfair forward contracts
        Require meatpackers to acquire at least 50% of their livestock through spot market sales

    
Restore mandatory Country of Origin Labeling
    
Prohibit USDA from labeling foreign imported meat products as "Product of USA"


"With a transformational bill like FSRA, our nation's food system will finally put public health, independent farmers, and the environment first. This is not just a rural issue - we all need clean water and healthy food to survive," continued Hauter. "As climate change continues to cause chaos, now is the time to make agricultural center stage. FSRA is the sweeping solution we need."


Besides Food and Water Action, click here and you can review the groups that are endorsing Senator Booker's proposal.


To read more from the News Release from Senator Booker's Senate page- click or tap here.



   

 

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