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Tag: agriculture
James Comer

Comer's Family Business Is Far Shadier Than Biden's Finances

In the last two weeks, Rep. James Comer has claimed that President Joe Biden “laundered China money,” accused Biden of “influence peddling,” and issued subpoenas to members of Biden’s family. Comer has based these actions on the “discovery” of transactions that Biden made no effort to disguise, including a $200,000 loan Biden extended to his brother and which his brother later repaid.

However, as The Daily Beast reports, Comer was engaged in a series of business dealings with his own brother. Those dealings, which included a $200,000 payment, were nowhere near as straightforward as the dealings between Joe and James Biden. Comer’s deal involved not only a big payment but multiple land swamps, shell companies, and requests for special tax breaks.

As members of the Biden family were being accused of “shady business practices,” it seems that Comer has a forest's worth of shade.

In a press release about the check from Biden’s brother, Comer stated, “Even if this was a personal loan repayment, it’s still troubling that Joe Biden’s ability to be paid back by his brother depended on the success of his family’s shady financial dealings.” By this, Comer seems to mean that Biden was repaid soon after his brother received a payment from an American health care company.

But what happened between Comer and his brother is a lot more mysterious. According to The Daily Beast, Comer’s family has for years been identified in news accounts as owning “Comer Land & Cattle.” As of 2018, Comer listed this as an asset worth $3 million.

However, no such entity appears to exist in business filings. It reportedly did at one time, but there’s been no such business for years. At least, not legally. It’s not registered as a business in Kentucky. It’s not registered anywhere else. A past press release showed him as the owner of “James Comer Jr. Farms,” which also doesn’t appear on paper to be a business entity. Comer’s Facebook page also lists him as the owner of “Comer Family Farms,” which isn’t listed as a business entity in Kentucky, according to the secretary of state’s website.

Much of Comer’s business activity seems to follow inheriting land in Kentucky following his father’s death in 2019. But exactly what happened with that land is the opposite of transparent. In one case, Comer reportedly sold his interest in a piece of land to his brother, then bought it back five months later, slipping his brother $18,000 in the process. That purchase ran through a shell company owned by Comer, the value of which doubled in two years. That company appears to have dealt exclusively with agricultural land deals at a time when Comer was on the House Agriculture Committee.

Comer’s family also swapped large tracts of land in Tennessee. That includes handing his brother one tract valued at $175,000 as a “gift.” In exchange, Comer reportedly got another tract that The Daily Beast describes as “apparently more valuable” without recording the cost of that land. The value of these transactions appears to be larger than even the largest loan that Biden gave to his brother.

Comer also seems to have benefited directly from a “tobacco buyout” of land he purchased while serving on the Kentucky legislature’s Tobacco Settlement Agreement Fund Oversight Committee. This means that he helped set the rate for the purchase of his own property.

Much of Comer’s story seems to be a more rural version of the Donald Trump story. He started out making small land purchases with the help of his father and brother, inherited larger tracts of land when his father died, and has made millions engaging in land speculation. The difference is that for much of this time, Comer was either involved in the Kentucky legislature or the House Agriculture Committee in positions that gave him insider knowledge and a direct advantage.

Comer also has his own Trump-style bank connection. When he sought a line of credit up to $1 million, he found it at South Central Bank—the same bank where Comer had been on the board of directors for 12 years.

If all of this makes Comer look like a country mini-Trump, that’s probably a description that would make him proud. But it would also seem to make his family finances much more worthy of scrutiny than anything he’s claimed about Joe Biden.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Biden Seeks To Reform Exploitative Meat Packing And Poultry Industry

Biden Seeks To Reform Exploitative Meat Packing And Poultry Industry

On Monday, President Joe Biden hosted a virtual discussion alongside Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Attorney General Merrick Garland to discuss plans to overhaul the meat and poultry industry. Notably absent from Biden’s panel with agriculture and farming industry leaders were talks of the ongoing pandemic, which has killed more than 250 workers employed by the five largest meatpacking companies in the country in 2020 alone. More than 59,000 of those workers contracted COVID-19 over the course of 2020, according to a congressional report released last October. The companies—which include Cargill, JBS Foods, National Beef, Smithfield Foods, and Tyson foods—weren’t named during the afternoon discussion, though Biden and others alluded to the “top four processing firms” that they feel are taking advantage of farmers and ranchers.

According to a fact sheet on Biden’s latest decision to unveil The Biden-⁠Harris Action Plan for a Fairer, More Competitive, and More Resilient Meat and Poultry Supply Chain, “Four large meat-packing companies control 85 percent of the beef market. In poultry, the top four processing firms control 54 percent of the market. And in pork, the top four processing firms control about 70 percent of the market.” Much of the panel was about making a more equitable meat and poultry industry by incentivizing farmers and ranchers with various funding options to expand or build new facilities and research new ways of doing business. Little was said about the most marginalized workforce included in that industry, save for promises of potential great wages for those in rural communities and additional training for workers. “Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism. It’s exploitation,” Biden said at one point.

Instead, much was said about how those four big companies are screwing over meat and poultry suppliers, grocery stores, and consumers. According to Biden, the cost of 1 pound of hamburger meat now costs more than $5—a substantial rise compared with the pre-pandemic price of less than $4 per pound. The price for ground beef today is definitely on the higher side compared with the latest numbers from the Department of Labor, which shows that ground beef was indeed slightly less than $4 per pound in March 2020 but has since spiked and fluctuated to an average price of around $4.70 in November 2021. Vilsack announced the many ways that the American Rescue Plan will help the industry, including allocating an $800 million commitment for grants and loans meant to address capacity, workforce, and innovation challenges at facilities. For the first phase of the project, Vilsack hopes at least 15 projects will be funded through a $150 million grant project for new proposals. An additional $275 million will be provided to lending partners for loans for new facilities.

The new “Product of USA” labeling rules to be created by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) could certainly incentivize meatpackers to do more business with U.S.-based farms and ranches, as the current regulations allow for meat to bear the “Product of USA” label no matter where the meat is raised, so long as it’s processed in the U.S. Biden, Vilsack, and Garland reiterated multiple times that the main issue is a lack of competition due to monopolies like the Big Four companies dominating the industry. Taking better care of ranchers and farmers who are committed to the legacy of their farms and yearn for the heyday of the industry ignores all the damage the meat and poultry industry has done to its workers and beyond. Agriculture accounted for 10% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, with the cattle industry being one of the main polluters. According to a paper published in 2017, researchers found that even living near a large-scale farm led to more risks of infection for residents.

Innovations could greatly reduce the environmental impact of farming, but that still doesn’t account for the grim conditions that have made the meat and poultry industry especially dangerous for workers throughout the pandemic. The number of COVID-19 cases and deaths reported by lawmakers are likely lower than in reality, as it’s nearly impossible to calculate the amount of undocumented immigrant workers. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), there is no federal or state data that accurately reveals how many undocumented workers are employed in the meat and poultry industry, in part because of many undocumented folks are fearful of responding to surveys like the census’ American Community Survey. The nonprofit think tank believes the data available shows a severe undercounting of the industry’s undocumented workers and offers little information in terms of demographics. Inaccurate employee counts, shoddy reporting from facilities, and minimal penalties when workers’ rights are violated disincentivize companies to make meaningful changes to ensure employees are being paid fairly in a safe environment.

There seems to be nothing in Biden’s latest push for reform that addresses these issues. To the administration, it appears that the buck stops at ranchers and farmers, many of whom have benefited from the country’s systemic racism. Looking solely at farmers from a wider lens of agriculture as a whole, white farmers make up well over 85% of producers in the U.S., according to an Eater article published in 2019. Discriminatory legislation like the Homestead Act largely benefited white Americans, while other laws like the California Alien Land Law of 1913 outright banned certain minority groups from owning land at all. It took until 1952 for the Supreme Court of California invalidate the California Alien Land Law, which had been upheld by multiple courts prior to that moment. It is absolutely time we rethink how the meat and poultry industry does business as well as agriculture as a whole. Plus, switching to a vegetarian diet does help reduce emissions, albeit only slightly—it’s still on giant polluters like those Big Four companies and other corporations in even more damaging industries to look towards greener solutions. What does a more ethical, greener meat and poultry industry look like to you? Or should it simply be abolished?

Article reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

In This Season Of Feasting, Let's Celebrate Agriculture, Not Agribusines

In This Season Of Feasting, Let's Celebrate Agriculture, Not Agribusines

In December 1972, I was part of a nationwide campaign that came tantalizingly close to getting the U.S. Senate to reject Earl Butz, Richard Nixon's choice for secretary of agriculture.

A coalition of grassroots farmers, consumers, and scrappy public interest organizations (like the Agribusiness Accountability Project that Susan DeMarco and I then headed) teamed up with some gutsy, unabashedly progressive senators to undertake the almost impossible challenge of defeating the cabinet nominee of a president who'd just been re-elected in a landslide.

The 51 to 44 Senate vote was so close because we were able to expose Butz as ... well, as butt-ugly — a shameless flack for big food corporations that gouge farmers and consumers alike. We brought the abusive power of corporate agribusiness into the public consciousness for the first time, but we had won only a moral victory, since there he was, ensconced in the seat of power. It horrified us that Nixon had been able to squeeze Butz into that seat, yet it turned out to be a blessing.

An arrogant, brusque, narrow-minded and dogmatic ag economist, Butz had risen to prominence in the small (but politically powerful) world of agriculture by devoting himself to the corporate takeover of the global food economy. He was dean of agriculture at Purdue University, but also a paid board member of Ralston Purina and other agribusiness giants. In these roles, he openly promoted the preeminence of middleman food manufacturers over family farmers, whom he disdained.

"Agriculture is no longer a way of life," he infamously barked at them. "It's a business." He callously instructed farmers to "Get big or get out" — and he then proceeded to shove tens of thousands of them out by promoting an export-based, conglomeratized, industrialized, globalized and heavily subsidized corporate-run food economy. "Adapt," he warned farmers, "or die." The ruination of farms and rural communities, Butz added, "releases people to do something useful in our society."

The whirling horror of Butz, however, spun off a blessing, which is that innovative, free-thinking, populist-minded and rebellious small farmers and food artisans practically threw up at the resulting "Twinkieization" of America's food. They were sickened that nature's own rich contribution to human culture was being turned into just another plasticized product of corporate profiteers.

"The central problem with modern industrial agriculture... (is) not just that it produces unhealthy food, mishandles waste, and overuses antibiotics in ways that harm us all. More fundamentally, it has no soul," said Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist and former farm boy from Yamhill, Oregon. Rather than accept that, they threw themselves into creating and sustaining a viable, democratic alternative. The Good Food rebellion has since sprouted, spread and blossomed from coast to coast.

This transformative grassroots movement rebuts old Earl's insistence that agriculture is nothing but a business. It most certainly is a business, but it's a good business — literally producing goodness — because it's "a way of life" for enterprising, very hardworking people who practice the art and science of cooperating with Mother Nature, rather than always trying to overwhelm her. These farmers don't want to be massive or make a killing; they want to farm and make delicious, healthy food products that help enrich the whole community.

This spirit was summed up in one simple word by a sustainable farmer in Ohio, who was asked what he'd be if he wasn't a farmer. He replied: "Disappointed." To farmers like these, food embodies our full "culture" — a word that is, after all, sculpted right into "agriculture" and is essential to its organic meaning.

Although agriculture has forestalled the total takeover of our food by crass agribusiness, the corporate powers and their political hirelings continue to press for the elimination of the food rebels and ultimately to impose the Butzian vision of complete corporatization. This is one of the most important populist struggles occurring in our society. It's literally a fight for control of our dinner, and it certainly deserves a major focus as you sit down to your holiday dinners this year.

To find small-scale farmers, artisans, farmers markets, and other resources in your area for everything from organic tomatoes to pastured turkey, visit www.LocalHarvest.org.

To find out more about Jim Hightower and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

On Thanksgiving, Celebrate Agriculture — Not Agribusiness

On Thanksgiving, Celebrate Agriculture — Not Agribusiness

In December 1972, I was part of a nationwide campaign that came tantalizingly close to getting the U.S. Senate to reject Earl Butz, then-President Richard Nixon's choice for secretary of agriculture.

A coalition of grassroots farmers, consumers and scrappy public interest organizations (such as the Agribusiness Accountability Project that Susan DeMarco and I then headed) teamed up with some gutsy, unabashedly progressive senators to undertake the almost-impossible challenge of defeating the Cabinet nominee of a president who'd just been elected in a landslide.

The 51-44 Senate vote was so close because we were able to expose Butz as ... well, as butt-ugly — a shameless flack for big food corporations that gouge farmers and consumers alike. We brought the abusive power of corporate agribusiness into the public consciousness for the first time, but we had won only a moral victory, since there he was, ensconced in the seat of power. It horrified us that Nixon had been able to squeeze Butz into that seat, yet it turned out to be a blessing.

An arrogant, brusque, narrow-minded and dogmatic agricultural economist, Butz had risen to prominence in the small — but politically powerful — world of agriculture by devoting himself to the corporate takeover of the global food economy. He was dean of agriculture at Purdue University but also a paid board member of Ralston Purina and other agribusiness giants. In these roles, he openly promoted the preeminence of middleman food manufacturers over family farmers, whom he disdained.

"Agriculture is no longer a way of life," he infamously barked at them. "It's a business." He callously instructed farmers to "get big or get out" — and he then proceeded to shove tens of thousands of them out by promoting an export-based, conglomerated, industrialized, globalized, heavily subsidized, corporate-run food economy. "Adapt," he warned farmers, "or die." The ruination of farms and rural communities, Butz added, "releases people to do something useful in our society."

The whirling horror of Butz, however, spun off a blessing, which is that innovative, freethinking, populist-minded and rebellious small farmers and food artisans practically threw up at the resulting Twinkieization of America's food. They were sickened that nature's own rich contribution to human culture was being turned into just another plasticized product of corporate profiteers. "The central problem with modern industrial agriculture ... (is) not just that it produces unhealthy food, mishandles waste, and overuses antibiotics in ways that harm us all. More fundamentally, it has no soul," said Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist and former farm boy from Yamhill, Oregon. Rather than accept that, they threw themselves into creating and sustaining a viable, democratic alternative. The "good food" rebellion has since sprouted, spread and blossomed from coast to coast.

This transformative grassroots movement rebuts old Earl's insistence that agriculture is nothing but a business. It most certainly is a business, but it's a good business — literally producing goodness — because it's "a way of life" for enterprising, very hardworking people who practice the art and science of cooperating with Mother Nature, rather than always trying to overwhelm her. These farmers don't want to be massive or make a killing; they want to farm and make delicious, healthy food products that help enrich the whole community.

This spirit was summed up in one simple word by a sustainable farmer in Ohio, who was asked what he'd be if he wasn't a farmer. He replied, "Disappointed." To farmers like these, food embodies our full "culture" — a word that is, after all, sculpted right into "agriculture" and is essential to its organic meaning.

Although agriculture has forestalled the total takeover of our food by crass agribusiness, the corporate powers and their political hirelings continue to press for the elimination of the food rebels and, ultimately, to impose the Butzian vision of complete corporatization. This is one of the most important populist struggles occurring in our society. It's literally a fight for control of our dinner, and it certainly deserves a major focus as you sit down to your Thanksgiving dinner this year.

To find small-scale farmers, artisans, farmers markets and other resources in your area for everything from organic tomatoes to pastured turkey, visit the LocalHarvest website.

To find out more about Jim Hightower, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Web page at www.creators.com.