VIDEO: Vote Against Corporate Agribusiness

As a brief follow-up to my post from last Wednesday about Issue 2 in Ohio, here's a fun video about the "lie" regarding this ballot measure.

The thumbnail is this: Issue 2 will amend Ohio's state constitution in order to create a small regulatory panel that will be responsible for all of Ohio's livestock. Of course, corporate agribusinesses love this idea because they'll be able to stack, lobby and control this small, vulnerable panel much more effectively than the monolithic federal Department of Agriculture.

Consequently, Issue 2 will crush family farms and allow corporations to further control how our food is produced.

If you live in Ohio, be sure to help the rest of us out on this one. Issue 2 is being billed as a model for other states, so what begins in Ohio could spread nationwide.

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Comments

[jpshotwheels]

08:03 PM on 11/28/2009

I watched a Documentary on HBO awhile ago, about how Pigs are raised, and its disgusting that they make these animals live in a habitat like this, let alone chickens. You will think twice before eating Pork or Chicken, now they want to do this to Cows. Animals were not meant to caged like this, living in filth, their young taken from them, and punctured with needles of Antibiotics and Steroids. We wonder why we suffer Obesity and infections so badly in this Country. Most of these animals we eat are vegetarian, yet they feed them meat or grain with pestisides, it wasnt' meant to be like this. This is just plain Common Sense.

I'm not an animal activist where we can't eat meat, but they must be treated humanely in their Nature 's Given Right, and not treated with all these drugs. You wonder why Americans are sick, well so are the animals. These animals, Pigs, Cows, Buffalo, Fish, Chickens, should be able to live in a comfortable Nature that they were suppose to be raised in, not in cages, filth, and against their given Nature, that MAN HAS CREATED, JUST LIKE CLIMATE CHANGE.

Who the hell else could have created the problems we have but Humans, what a riduculous argument. You think the Polar Bears got together one day and said lets distruct our habitat, so we can't exist.

[lightningbolt]

03:53 PM on 11/03/2009

Corporate agribusiness is one of the biggest threats to national security. Bribery must be ended as soon as possible to reduce their power.

[AnimalLover6]

11:40 PM on 11/02/2009

So it's not enough that BigAG--in collusion with the U.S. government over the past 60 years--has stolen the land from and shut down 70% of America's small farmers. Now they want to call the shots for any remaining independent farmers. I hope the folks in Ohio are smart enough to understand what's happening here. They need to look to what Peabody Coal, through the establishment of phony councils and again in collusion with the feds (especially the BIA and the BLM)--did to Navajo land.

BigAG is a grinding destruction machine. Anybody who votes in favor of this, seduced by smooth talk and reassurance, will live to deeply regret it.

[Tags]

08:06 PM on 11/02/2009

Agribusiness just loves off-year elections, I see.

[dayala]

03:46 PM on 11/02/2009

read this link:

http://nonais.org/2009/10/27/oh-issue-2-devils/#comments

[MerryW]

03:01 PM on 11/02/2009

I have heard that the Humane Society of the United States
and PETA are not functioning as humane sociteties. Can anyone check this out.

[grumpyfarmer]

02:40 PM on 11/02/2009

John 3, I can tell you are an informed individual and you are right, alot of smaller farmers do support the issue, because they are being told we must. All of us throughout the nation are being told this is preferable to the alternative, and probably it is. I was hoping for an explanation on how this was going to work against family farms, but I didn't get one from the video.

Farm Bureau and a half dozen other farm groups lost credibility with me when they did not oppose moving the animal disease research facility from Plum Island to the mainland. It will be put right in the heart of farm country, Manhattan KS, where any accident can cause the most possible harm. I figure, if they are all too stupid to figure out it was better off on an island(for obvious reasons) then they may be too stupid to figure out alot of other things.

[JohnIII]

06:24 PM on 11/02/2009

Either way is going to have an unpleasant affect, I'm sure. But most farmers around here feel their interests will be better served at the state level. I tend to agree.

[grumpyfarmer]

02:34 PM on 11/02/2009

Maybe I spoke too soon, I do have an opinion. If not for the NPPC, NCBA, and various state Farm Bureaus along with the American Farm Bureau supporting the weakening of corporate farming laws in the 1990s, I doubt very seriously we would be having a vote at all, because we would not have the huge confinement operations we have today. Any new regulations will hurt the smallest farmers first, because they have the least amount of extra cash(and new regulations ALWAYS cost money). So, regardless of how the vote turns out, I will be PO'd at the big ag groups who over the years have taken my checkoff $$(an involuntary tax we pay everytime we sell a bushel of grain or a head of livestock) supposedly to support independant farmers like me, and instead used it to weaken laws that were ALREADY on the books in many states against corporate farming.

[grumpyfarmer]

02:30 PM on 11/02/2009

I am a farmer, but not in Ohio, I am not sure what I think. I belong to Farm Bureau, but increasingly I am not sure they represent family farms anymore. Either way it goes, it is I believe a turning point for American agriculture, and I figure small farmers will come out the losers. The video by the way was little more than propaganda, I thought I might learn something from it but I didn't, I received propaganda from several ag organizations today too via email...I doubt you can believe anyone anymore.

[Pimpinnati]

02:14 PM on 11/02/2009

John Boehner is doing local radio ads supporting Issue 2.

Doesnt that say everything that needs to be said??

[tbern10]

12:19 PM on 11/02/2009

Did anyone see William Batchelder's letter in the Dispatch on 10/31? The House Minority leader made his case for supporting Issue 2, and, one reason caught my eye. Nevermind that this Republican is in favor of expanding government control by supporting Issue 2; I think we all know by now that Republicans see government as a tool to be used and abused. What got my attention was his statement that, without Issue 2, there could possibly be a livestock issue put on the ballot THAT VOTERS MAY HAVE TO DECIDE. How terrible to leave such important issues to the voters! We're better off leaving such nasty details to the "experts," just like we did with every aspect of our economy. That's been the Republican mantra for years! Let's run government like a business, and things will certainly be better. One problem with that is, unfortunately, not all businessmen adhere to the tenets of capitalism. They may claim to, but, ask any Libertarian, and it's pretty clear that the old tags of Republicans are Capitalists and Democrats are Socialists have been proven wrong. What's disturbing is to realize that many of our policies came out of those false beliefs. So, if Republicans are such capitalist crusaders and so against expanding government, then why support Issue 2? Yes, that is a rhetorical question.

[JohnIII]

02:14 PM on 11/02/2009

And you think the Humane Society of America is better qualified to run farm policy?

[Babzter]

11:46 AM on 11/02/2009

Humorous must-see short video on Agribusiness:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB-dgo5U3Uc

[wolfguide]

11:38 AM on 11/02/2009

The only farmers who would support a board like that are big agribusiness-types using extreme confinement techniques like battery cages and veal and pig crates, They want to preserve their profits and their competitive advantage ove small farmers. Real farmers don't treat their animals so brutally. Agribusiness wants to continue to dump antibiotics into our waters, and use pesticides with impugnity. This bill is a bad idea. If the Farm Bureaus support it, I would oppose it. The Farm Bureau has become a bit of a beard for big agribusiness (at least that is the case here in New York).

[JohnIII]

11:55 AM on 11/02/2009

You're wrong. Many small farms also support the measure.

[JohnIII]

11:21 AM on 11/02/2009

Most farmers in Ohio support the bill. They would rather be regulated by the state instead of the Humane Society of the United States. These guys barely make a profit as it is. More regulation could destroy their business. Especially from an organization that really doesn't care about their livelihood or know anything about the realities of farming.

I'll vote with the farmers.

Don't take my word for it. Read the local papers.

[spqesq]

01:31 PM on 11/02/2009

Yeah, since when are local papers biased by corporate ad money? Hey, wait a minute...

[JohnIII]

02:09 PM on 11/02/2009

The local papers are interviewing local farmers. It has nothing to do with corporate ad money.

[TwistedNibbler]

03:27 AM on 11/03/2009

Your comments only make sense if you accept the proposition that "United States Department of Agriculture = Humane Society of the United States."

The government exists to take care of such oversight. Bureacracy is only bad when it is corrupted; the state run board would be a FAR MORE LIKELY group to be corrupted because they would be cheaper, and access would be easier.

There is no possible way that a narrow, state government appointed board could possibly avoid being a shill for Agribusiness lobbying.

If you really are a small independent farmer in rural Ohio, I apologize for the tone, but you need to think harder about who you want holding the leash around your neck. Our federal government isn't the best of Big Brothers, but they sure are better than the mega corporations that want to put you out of business.

[myoungholt]

09:53 AM on 11/02/2009

Good god, when will the lobby business be booted out?!?! These are nothing more than glorified used car salesmen. Lobbying is simply a label put on the process so they think they aren't botom-of-the-barrel salesmen--which is what they really are. They're actually worse because of the bribes they integrate into their sales pitches.