Food

The Staff of Life or the Sword?

By

Mike Callicrate

Kansas City Food Circles March 27, 2004

Fast Food Destroys•Farmers and Ranchers

•Rural Communities

•A Safe Food Supply

•An Affordable Food Supply

•A Dependable Food Supply

•The Environment

•The Economy

Real Beef Burger$2.59/lb.

Fast Food AMR Burger$1.79/lb.

“We are enslaved by speed and have all succumbed to the same insidious virus: Fast Life, which disrupts our habits, pervades the privacy of our homes and forces us to eat Fast Foods.”

“In the name of productivity, Fast Life has changed our way of being and threatens our environment and our landscapes.”

-The Slow Food International Manifesto

Do you want to know what it is?

“Industrial factory food isn’t good for you, your community, or the environment…”- Moopheus

The Meatrix…

Niche farming, such as organic and aquatic farming and hormone-free meat production, is due to rise.

•  Consolidation of farms•  Higher productivity

Produce food

Farmers and ranchers

The Silver LiningWhy It's Going Away

DutiesThe Job

A Dozen Jobs with No Future?by Susan Aaron

http://editorial.careers.msn.com/articles/nofuture

Eliminating our wealth creators…

USDA has reported that the earnings for the entire year in 2004 for farm operator households from their farming activities are only $1,226, or about $100 per month.  To see USDA's 2004 farm income forecast go to http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/FarmIncome/Data/Hh_t5.htm

Farmers' Suicides Embarrass India's Tech Paradise…officials and angry farm blame the free-market policies of the World Trade Organization as a key factor in unsettling the farmers' lives.

Farmers' Suicides Embarrass India's Tech ParadiseBy Narayanan MadhavanNovember 07, 2001

“Fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape , widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled a juggernaut of American cultural imperialism abroad.”

The Dark Side of the All American Meal

So this is where you grew up... What happened Grandpa?

Analyst: Ag myths abound when it comes to food costsAmerica has the cheapest, safest food supply in the world... but is it really? By Keesia Wirt

“Several countries would score much higher than the U.S. in terms of food safety, including Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Japan.”- Charles Benbrook, Ag Economist

“…the U.S. ranks 23 out of 34 countries, spending $2.28 per person for each 1,000 calories consumed.

"Some 90 percent of humanity spends less per calorie of food than Americans.”

- Charles Benbrook, Ag Economist

40.0%

45.0%

50.0%

55.0%

60.0%

65.0%

70.0%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Farm Share

19501975

19951996

19971998

19992000

20012002**

** 3rd Quarter*All Fresh Choice Beef – USDA – ERS Data

Producer Share of Consumer Beef Dollar*

68%

41.3%

There is an economic term to describe this phenomenon. It is called…

STEALING

“…there is no stopping it(concentration). This is an evolution that’s going to takeplace in spite of whoeveris in the way.”

Robert Peterson, IBP Chairman and CEO, July 1996$20 Billion by 2001 article, in Meat and Poultry

Concentration and the resulting market power of the big packer and retailer has cost cattlemen between $300 and $400/head of their share of the consumer beef dollar.

When we lose our marketswe lose our freedom.

www.competitivemarkets.com Date: February 17, 2004

Jury Awards $1.3 Billion to Cattlemen in Pickett Case

Montgomery, Alabama ~ The Organization for Competitive Markets praised today’s jury verdict that awarded nearly $1.3 billion to the class of cattlemen suing Tyson/IBP for using captive supplies to manipulate prices downward.

How dependable is a food supply that comes from gangsters, thugs and thieves?

Tyson demands retraction from Callicrate. We are not gangsters, thugs and thieves.

Tyson pleads guilty to bribing USDA Secretary

ConAgra pays up for cheating growers

ConAgra agreed to a $6.75 million settlement to a lawsuit filed by Georgia contract poultry growers. ConAgra denied the charges in the suit, but settled one day before trial.

“We are committed to ethically and responsibly managing our company for profitable long-term growth.”

Bruce Rohde, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

ADM, “Super Price Fixer to the World” pays $200 million in fines and civil penalties(ADM Profit was estimated between $250 and $500 million, Taylor, Auburn)

Wal-MartKroger

Safeway

TysonCargill

ConAgra

Today’s most deadly alliances…

A fully loaded 10 gauge aimed at you!!

Consumer Warning: Shopping at Wal-Mart contributes to the economic destruction of rural America and your community! 2000

Published on Tuesday, March 16, 2004 by the Guardian/UK

The Fruits of Poverty The Wealth of Supermarkets is built on Monopoly, Exploitation and Restriction of Choice

by George Monbiot

“Of the 10 richest people on Earth, five of them have the same surname. It's not Gates, or Murdoch, or Rockefeller, but Walton. They are the heirs and trustees of the supermarket chain Wal-Mart.

“The global monopolization of the sector has destroyed the livelihoods of tens of millions of small proprietors and their employees.

“The superstores have used their buying power to force the world's farmers to compete directly with each other.”

Living Quarters Of The New Global Workforce

What would Abraham Lincoln think?

- USDA- P&S, Food Pyramid, Food safety, etc.

- Land Grant College system- Monsanto, Cargill, ConAgra

- Corporate Power

Lincoln's letter on corporations

"We may congratulate ourselves that this cruel war is nearing its end.  It has cost a vast amount of treasure and blood....It has indeed been a trying hour for the Republic; but I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country.  As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.  I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war." - Abraham Lincoln, letter to William F. Elkins, Nov. 21, 1864. Archer H. Shaw, ed., The Lincoln Encyclopedia 40 (1950)

Folly: "The pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests, despite the availability of feasible alternatives."

This cattleman's got a beef ...Mike Callicrate and Ranch Foods Direct take on the big meat packersby Kathryn Eastburn

Photo By Sean Cayton

November 20 -26, 2003

“Our goal is to keep small farmers and ranchers afloat.”- Mike Callicrate

“Our defense should begin at the table with Slow Food. Let us rediscover the flavors and savors of regional cooking and banish the degrading effects of Fast Food.”

-The Slow Food International Manifesto