HRC taps a CAFO champion as co-chair of Rural Americans for Hillary

[Flabbergasted]

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/12/11/151353/24/


By Gristmill

About Grist: We exist to tell the untold stories, spotlight trends before they become trendy, and engage the apathetic. We're fiercely independent in our coverage; we throw brickbats when they're needed and bestow kudos when they're warranted. And while we take our work seriously, we don't take ourselves seriously, because of the many things this planet is running out of, sanctimonious tree-huggers ain't one of them.

Author: Tom Philpott is Grist's food editor. Tom is a founder of Maverick Farms, a sustainable-agriculture non-profit and small farm located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina.

CAFO = Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations Industry

"A lot of pig shit is one thing; a lot of highly toxic pig shit is another. The excrement of Smithfield hogs is hardly even pig shit: On a continuum of pollutants, it is probably closer to radioactive waste than to organic manure. The reason it is so toxic is Smithfield's efficiency. The company produces 6 billion pounds of packaged pork each year. That's a remarkable achievement, a prolifigacy unimagined only two decades ago, and the only way to do it is to raise pigs in astonishing, unprecedented concentrations."

-- Jeff Tietz, "Boss Hog," Rolling Stone, Dec. 14, 2006

Why did Hillary Clinton turn to the CAFO industry to help run her campaign in the farm belt?

On Monday, Clinton named Joy Philippi, the former president of a the National Pork Producers Council, the main trade group representing CAFO operators, as co-chair of Rural Americans for Hillary.

The campaign press release was vague on details. It quotes the candidate thusly: "I am honored to have Joy's support, and delighted that she'll play a leading role in my campaign in Nebraska and nationally." And that's all the explanation offered.

While the national media press her for more information on this issue -- as I hope they will -- I'll do a little digging below the fold about HRC's rural adviser and her dealings with the industrial-meat industry.

A few months ago, Joy Philippi ended a two-year run as president of the National Pork Producers Council. "Pork producers" might sound like family farmers, but as Grist readers will know by now, the industry has changed dramatically over the past decades.

Corporate dominance of meatpacking has driven thousands of small players out of business. Remaining farms have scaled up. And giant meat packers like Smithfield and Tyson have started not just buying hogs to slaughter and pack them, but raising them as well.

This strategy of "vertical integration" has given the giants tremendous leverage to squeeze small farmers, a trend I teased out in this post. It has also led to the CAFOization of pork production -- an unfolding environmental and social disaster.

Smithfield, the world's biggest pork packer, now ranks as the world's biggest CAFO operator as well. Its multinational hog-production arm, Murphy Brown, claims to bring 13 million hogs to market each year in the U.S. market alone -- and an additional 2 million internationally. That's many times more than the next-biggest player.

Naturally, Murphy Brown plays a major role in shaping National Pork Producers Council policy. Just this year, Murphy Brown's chief lobbyist was elected vice president of the NPPC, a role he attained after serving as stint on NPPC's board.

Philippi, for her part, has been a tireless champion of industrial-meat interests since she first began serving as NPPC president in 2005.

Here she is last spring testifying before the Senate, lambasting any restrictions on packers and riding other meat-industry hobbyhorses:

2007 FARM BILL Pork producers have a keen interest in the next Farm Bill. NPPC formed a 2007 Farm Bill Policy Task Force to gather input from producers from around the country. The task force has held a number of meetings over the past year and a half, reviewing and evaluating many of the Farm Bill issues that will affect our industry. Pork producers have participated in several congressional field hearings on the Farm Bill and attended USDA Secretary Mike Johanns’ Farm Bill listening sessions. NPPC is committed to working with Congress to craft a new Farm Bill.

As the next Farm Bill is written, we hope Congress will consider the needs of the nation’s pork producers: 1) maintain the U.S. pork industry’s competitive advantage globally; 2) strengthen the industry’s competitiveness; 3) defend the industry’s competitiveness by opposing unwarranted and costly provisions and regulations.

As long as we're discussing "maintain(ing) the U.S. pork industry’s competitive advantage globally" lets go stright to the NPCC website:

Pork Producers Support Trade Agreements

In 2006, the United States exported 1,262,499 metric tons of pork valued at $2.864 billion. This is a 9 percent increase over 2005 exports in volume terms and 8.7 percent in value terms. 2006 was 15th straight year of record pork exports. U.S. exports of pork and pork products have increased by more than 433 percent in volume terms and more than 401 percent in value terms since the implementation of the NAFTA in 1994 and the Uruguay Round Agreement in 1995.

Peru Trade Pact Passage Major Victory

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 4, 2007 – The National Pork Producers Council hailed as a major victory for U.S. pork producers today’s overwhelming passage by the Senate of the free trade agreement between the United States and Peru.

The Senate approved the Peru Trade Promotion Agreement on a 77-18 vote. The House approved the agreement in November by a vote of 285-132. The trade deal, which President Bush is expected to sign, is the first pact beneficial to the U.S. pork industry passed by Congress since the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement was passed in summer 2005. (Congress did approve in late 2005 and in 2006 trade agreements with, respectively, Bahrain and Oman.)

“Passage of the Peru agreement is a major victory for U.S. pork producers, who will gain access to 28 million new customers and see their profits rise,” said NPPC President Jill Appell, a pork producer from Altona, Ill.

NPPC, which led a coalition of agricultural organizations in support of the Peru trade agreement, said the pact will provide significant benefits to U.S. pork producers. According to Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes, when the agreement is fully implemented live hog prices will be 83 cents higher than they would be in the absence of the agreement. That means profits for the average U.S. pork producer will increase by 7 percent; U.S. pork exports to Peru will be worth $30 million annually.

[Stop Cornyn]

1. Maybe she can appoint a lobbyist for the logging interests to run her environmental outreach program

[asdjrocky]

2. The fox, once again, guards the hens. nt