Coalition wants ‘Big Ag’ banned from getting CARES Act money

The Brillion News

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A letter from a group of agriculture and environmental groups is asking the U.S. Department of the Treasury to make sure that $500 billion from the CARES Act is not used to further consolidate the food system in the country by aiding large corporations.

The coalition of 68 farmer, environmental, and antitrust groups across the country sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin on Thursday, April 23, asking that COVID-19 pandemic relief funds do not lead to further consolidation of the food and agriculture industry. The letter urges Secretary Mnuchin to direct stimulus funds into farming systems that lift up farmers and rural communities while providing opportunities for diverse, sustainable agriculture systems to thrive.

The letter argues that the current food system under the control of a few major corporate players is unsustainable - reality that the group feels the coronavirus pandemic has exposed.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law late March, provides over $2 trillion in funds to help individuals and businesses weather the economic challenges stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

It includes $9.5 billion for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to distribute to farmers and agriculture businesses. However, Title IV of the CARES Act authorizes an unprecedented $500 billion to the U.S. Treasury Department “to make loans, loan guarantees, and other investments” to businesses, states, and municipalities.

“While farmers and advocates of rural communities are closely watching how USDA will distribute the $9.5 billion allocated through the CARES Act, little discussion or oversight is being given to this other, much larger pot of money with few strings attached,” said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Action. “Treasury Secretary Mnuchin must make sure that money from this $500 slush fund doesn’t flow straight from the Treasury Department into the pockets of large corporations, including the food and agricultural corporations that already have a stranglehold on the market.” “Consolidation in food and agriculture has already taken a toll on the security of our food system, ,” said Jason Davidson, food and agriculture campaigner with Friends of the Earth. “The Trump Administration must not use Title IV funds to place more power in the hands of corporate agribusiness to wield against small farmers.” The coalition said large agribusinesses have spent the last few decades consolidating their market power through horizontal and vertical mergers. Farmers today buy inputs from and sell into a tightly consolidated market, depressing farm income while raising prices consumers see at the grocery registers.

The group said the top four beef processing firms slaughter four out of every five cattle in the U.S. It said the pandemic exposed the weaknesses in this tightly consolidated system and the detrimental impacts on farmers, workers, and rural communities.

The coalition said the rise in large slaughterhouses obliterated locally owned slaughterhouses. This means the closure of a single plant due to an outbreak in COVID-19 leaves thousands of farmers with no market in which to sell their livestock.