PATCHOGUE, NY, Feb. 22, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) and Competitive Markets Action (CMA), recently announced the recipients of their 2023 Congressional Awards and honored U.S. Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-NY, with their Leadership Award for his work to defeat the so-called Ending Agriculture Trade Suppression (EATS) Act, H.R. 4417/S. 2019, led by Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-IA, and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-KS.
In October of 2023, Rep. Garbarino led a House Republican sign-on letter to Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-PA, and Ranking Member David Scott, D-GA, alongside Reps. Nancy Mace, R-SC, David Valadao, R-CA, and Michael Waltz, R-FL, against EATS, a measure that is designed to nullify state ballot initiatives across the country enacted by a direct vote of the people. Industrial agribusiness interests failed to secure the enactment of similar legislation led by former Rep. Steve King, R-IA, in the 2018 Farm Bill thanks to the work of OCM leaders and former House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-TX – Thompson’s predecessor who is currently working with the Competitive Markets Groups to defeat EATS in 2024.
“I’m honored to be recognized by such a wide array of American family farmers who keep our country fed,” said Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-NY. “The EATS Act would directly harm producers who practice more humane, sustainable, and regenerative agriculture and to the safety and security of our food supply. House Agriculture Committee leadership should deliver a bipartisan Farm Bill that helps keep family farmers in business instead of shutting them down.”
“We are grateful to Rep. Garbarino for his leadership and tremendous work fighting against the China-backed EATS Act that would federalize American agriculture under Smithfield’s factory farming standards and allow the Chinese to gain more control over our food production systems,” said Marty Irby, President & CEO at Competitive Markets Action and Board Secretary at the Organization for Competitive Markets. “Make no mistake, if EATS or anything like it is included in the Farm Bill, American family farmers will be put out of business and our foreign enemies will gain a tighter grip on the consolidated 4-Big-Packer-Monopoly that already runs Joe Biden’s USDA.”
“We applaud Rep. Garbarino for his tireless work, tremendous leadership, and intestinal fortitude in standing up to Chinese interests and multinational conglomerates who continue to further consolidate American agriculture,” said Taylor Haynes, President of the Organization for Competitive Markets and Founder of the Wyoming Independent Cattlemen’s Association. “If Agriculture Committee leaders want to get a Farm Bill done in 2024 they’d be wise to jettison any language that nullifies state and local agriculture laws and include a provision to reform USDA’s swampy checkoff slush funds.”
“As a proud American and lifelong producer, I proudly applaud Rep. Garbarino for being committed to defeating Big Ag’s Chinese and Brazilian backers that threaten our food supply,” said Jonathan Buttram, Treasurer at the Organization for Competitive Markets, and President of the Alabama Contract Poultry Growers Association. “The industrial agriculture mafia is petrified of our work because they see the writing on the wall and we hope they soon meet the same fate as New York’s infamous ‘Five Families.’”
"Independent farmers in Kansas applaud Rep. Garbarino and hope to see our U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall shift toward helping his constituents instead of pandering to China and the industrial ag interests that line his campaign coffers,” said Mike Schultz, founder of the Kansas Cattlemen's Association, and Vice-President at the Organization for Competitive Markets.
OCM and CMA also conducted its third fly-in since July of 2023 to Washington, D.C. this month and engaged in nearly 90 meetings against the EATS Act, H.R. 4417/S. 2019; S. 3382, the Protecting Interstate Commerce for Livestock Producers Act (PICLPA), led by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-MO, with no additional cosponsors; and other legislation like it.
In the past week, the Missouri-based Moms for America, and Republican Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, came out swinging against the EATS Act, joining more than 2,000 diverse opponents that stand firmly against the measure.
The Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit based in Lincoln, Nebraska. The foundation of the Organization for Competitive Markets is to fight for competitive markets in agriculture for farmers, ranchers and rural communities. True competition reduces the need for economic regulation. Our mission, and our duty, is to define and advocate the proper role of government in the agricultural economy as a regulator and enforcer of rules necessary for markets that are fair, honest, accessible and competitive for all citizens.
Competitive Markets Action (CMA) is a 501(c)(4) non-profit based in Washington, D.C., that was formed with the mission of shaping policy to promote more regenerative and sustainable agriculture, and competitive markets in the U.S., and to defend against attacks on states’ rights by the federal government. CMA works to raise awareness of the harm caused by multinational conglomerates to the American family farmer, the consumer and our U.S. economy as a whole in an effort to bring about legislative and regulatory reforms.
Attachments
- Rep. Andrew Garbarino with OCM & CMA Members and Board Directors
- Rep. Andrew Garbarino and Marty Irby
