Farm Bill takes away states’ rights

Back in the 1970s, the Republican Party touted local control. Over time, the Republican Party has switched to a “one size fits all,” the one size gives the large corporation the benefit, not the voter.

The new “Food Security and Farm Protection Act” is no exception. This bill takes away states’ rights to regulate agriculture, “dictated not by local voters, but by corporate lobbying” (Tom Harkin, The Des Moines Register, June 5).

In the U.S. from 2018 to 2020, “AgReliant, Bayer, Corteva and Syngenta accounted for 83.4% of corn seed sales and 78.1% of soybean seed sales” (DTN.com, Oct. 16). Out of these four companies, three are international: AgReliant Genetics (Canada), Bayer (Germany), and Syngenta (Switzerland).

Beef packing is no different. ”In the U.S., four major corporations — Tyson Foods, JBS USA, Cargill, and National Beef Packing Company — control approximately 85% of the beef processing market” (Diaz, DoVen Foods.com, Nov. 7). JBS USA and National Beef are Brazilian-based.

The fight against this new farm bill is a fight to see who has control — voters of the states or federal control influenced by lobbying of international corporations. Do farmers want to be controlled by international corporations, or do they want to control their own operations?

Farmers must stand up for states’ rights and the right for farmer states to regulate what’s best for them.

Ann Klees

Waterville