At one time more than 100 large cities nationwide require their employees to live within city boundaries. But over the last decade, some of these laws have come under attack. Minnesota’s state legislature has joined Michigan in passing a bill that forbids cities from enacting residency requirements. Residency opponents cite individual freedom of choice, while supporters … Read More
The conversion of biomass into ethanol and biodiesel provides farmers an additional market for their crops. Over the years, many federal and state rules have been developed to promote biofuels production for use in industry and reformulated gasoline. While this page does not include an exhaustive list of ethanol incentives, the rules on this page are unique in that they encourage ethanol and biodiesel production on a small scale. A decentralized, rural biofuels industry tends to favor a greater number of farmers over a wider area. Production credits for smaller facilities also promotes the formation of farmer-owned cooperatives that further increase returns to farmers.… Read More
In many states, higher prices are offered for large shipments of cattle or hogs, effectively discriminating against smaller producers providing identical products. In the absence of any federal initiatives, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Missouri have all passed price discrimination laws. Efforts in Kansas are currently underway. However, the laws have encountered resistance from meatpackers. South … Read More
In recent years, the largest 7 percent of U.S. farms received approximately three quarters of the market value of all agriculture products sold. About 75 percent of U.S. farms now share a mere 7 percent of the market value. Yet when agricultural payments are distributed, they are blind to the scale of farms. Consequently a small … Read More
As massive, concentrated feedlots spread across the U.S., states are using a variety of techniques to protect their rural economies and environment. States such as Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma have enacted large scale feedlot moratoriums. Some counties have proposed or enacted rules that place various restrictions on feedlot facilities–required setbacks, public hearing process, manure management plans, … Read More
Agribusiness mergers squeeze the food industry into an hourglass- with many producers and consumers but increasingly fewer processors and distributors. Food chain clusters of Monsanto/Cargill, ConAgra, and Novartis/ADM are vertically integrating to control production from “farm gate to dinner plate”. As agribusiness concentrates, their power to buy low from farmers and sell high to consumers increases. … Read More
The ordinance is modeled after the language of the constitutional amendments passed in Nebraska and South Dakota that ban corporate farms in those states. Similar laws have passed in Thompson Township, Fulton County, Pennsylvania and Wells Township, Fulton County, Pennsylvania. According to the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy (POCLAD), as of late 2004, 78 Pennsylvania townships have passed laws banning corporate involvement in agriculture. Several townships have passed laws stripping corporations of constitutional protections and powers.… Read More
Corporate owned farms tend to be large-scale operations that produce food for consumers who are widely dispersed geographically. They are also operations whose profits are more likely to end up in corporate headquarters than back in the local economy. And when corporate farming expands, those who farm the land become tenants rather than independent producers. To … Read More