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Stabenow meets with Perdue

The Ranking member of the Senate Ag Committee says she expressed her concern for agriculture to be a top priority during the Trump administration when meeting with Sonny Perdue.

Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow says she had a productive meeting with Trump’s pick to lead the USDA. In a statement following their meeting, Stabenow said the next ag secretary needs to be a champion for farmers and ranchers, while carrying out the department’s mission.

Stabenow says a confirmation hearing for the former Georgia Governor will be scheduled after the committee receives necessary documents, which is expected sometime later this month.

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  Thanks Senator Stabenow for recognizing the farmers of this country have been trampled by the giant meatpackers lobby.It will be now or never for us, as cattlemen can’t afford to keep feeding their livestock, with half to one third the revenue we were getting at the market two years ago. I did the math and the animal I got $500 for, turned in to a $3740 retail value of cuts at the retail meat counter, once the packers got the hide off and processed it into little packages for consumers. It is a travesty for everyone, market abuse by the middlemen for a long time. GIPSA fair play “rules” will help, and we deserve our “country of origin” label back on our US raised beef and pork. After it was removed by congress in June 2015, our market crashed. All eyes will be on this confirmation, we thank you for supporting the many farm families in the U.S. .

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  Thank you Mrs. Stabenow, for all the farm families in the US. We have been at the mercy of the giant meatpackers for long enough. Can’t afford to continue farming with the artificial price we receive for our beef. We receive about half to a third of what we received for our livestock two years ago. Most farmers just get by while consumers pay inflated prices unnecessarily. I calculated that the beef I received $500 for at the livestock auction turns in to a $3740 product of retail meat for the consumer. We want and need the “Farmer Fair Practices Rules” and hopefully the new administration will deliver this time. And our farmer trade associations, do not speak the truth for us, but are “bought ” by the packers also. They even asked for the removal of our “country of origin label, so we must have help from leaders like you. Thanks.

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