The Organization for Competitive Markets and the Competitive Markets Action led several organizations on a trip to Capitol Hill to oppose the EATS Act.
The groups say the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression Act via the farm bill would eliminate hundreds of state agricultural laws, effectively paving the way for even more foreign intrusion without safety measures in place. The absence of these rules, especially those that support family farms and ranches, would mean Chinese corporations like Smithfield Foods could easily expand into all 50 states.
The groups support the OFF Act, or “Opportunities for Fairness in Farming.” The OFF Act would create a system of checks and balances within USDA’s Commodity Checkoff Programs, prohibit checkoffs from utilizing taxpayer dollars to lobby against farmers’ best interests and prohibit disparagement of one product by another. The groups say that practice has long allowed the federal government to pick winners and losers in the marketplace.