The shocking footage and photos have been impossible for us to ignore: tens of thousands of farmers storming the streets in tractors, blocking border crossings — even dumping manure — as farmer-led protests spread across the European Union like wildfire. From Germany, Spain, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Ireland, Romania, and more, farmers’ frustrations with decades of abusive conditions have clearly reached a boiling point.
While the specific demands vary from country to country, the root cause of farmers’ plight is the same: Governments across the world have been supporting policies that benefit the largest corporations while farmers are hung out to dry. The protesting farmers across the EU will no longer tolerate getting squeezed by the largest agrochemical corporations and food industry giants — like McDonald’s, Aldi, and Danone — and they are fighting back against the governments that have empowered these corporations to expand their market dominance and reap record profits off the backs of farmers.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is in the same power struggle: Our government is working in concert with the largest multinational corporations, oppressing America’s family farmers, ranchers, and workers, depriving us of our opportunity to be prosperous, and attacking one of the most basic values of our democracy. Now it’s time for U.S. farmers and their supporters to join the fight.
SIGN THE PETITION: STAND WITH FARMERS AND ENDORSE OUR DEMANDS
OUR DEMANDS
- Fair Markets: There must be a fair, competitive, and open marketplace to buy seed, fertilizer, and other inputs, and to sell produce, livestock, and other goods. It has become nearly impossible for independent farmers, processors, seed suppliers, mechanics, and other rural businesses to compete with multinational monopolies. Farmers need strong antitrust safeguards.
- Food Security: Stop foreign, corporate, and billionaire investors from buying up farmland, driving up land prices to levels at which farmers cannot compete, and ultimately giving corporations and foreign entities unprecedented amounts of control over the U.S. food supply.
- Fair Treatment: All farmers need to have fair access to the taxpayer-subsidized risk management tools, credit, and land. Cut the tentacles of corporate power from government programs and spending, and put America’s independent farmers first.
- Transparent Labeling: Farmers should be able to label their food accurately and transparently — including strong country of origin labeling standards. Government must stop fraudulent labeling practices by large corporations that mislead consumers and steal market opportunities from farmers.
- Checkoff Program Reform: Farmers should no longer be forced to pay one billion dollars annually into a government program, only to see that money funneled to lobbying organizations representing the world’s largest meatpackers and grain traders.
- Buy Local, Not Global: The U.S. government is a major purchaser of food. It must change its procurement policies to prioritize local and regional producers instead of the world’s largest food corporations.
- Right to Repair: Huge corporations and their Wall Street backers have gone so far as to prevent local businesses and farmers from fixing their own tractors and equipment, forcing them to pay corporate technicians to make all repairs. A farmer should have the right to fix their own equipment as they see fit.
