The American Farm Bureau has had enough and it isn't taking it any longer. Prices for farm commodities have dropped while the costs of growing corn and soybeans and raising hogs and cattle have risen. Now, the Farm Bureau frets about pushes by animal rights groups to further regulate farms. At the Farm Bureau's annual convention, leaders are saying enough is enough, writes AP reporter Shannon Dininny.
"A line must be drawn between our polite and respectful engagement with consumers and how we must aggressively respond to extremists who want to drag agriculture back to the day of 40 acres and a mule," said Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation (above). "The time has come for us to face our opponents with a new attitude. The days of their elitist power grabs are over."
Dropping commodity prices (and rising input costs) are driving farmers to distraction. Nobody is having a tougher time than dairy farmers. Meanwhile, Dininny reports, animal welfare groups are pushing new regulations. "The Humane Society of the U.S. has shepherded laws in at least six states to ban cramped cages for farm animals and persuaded some of the country's largest fast-food restaurants and retailers to make at least a gradual switch to cage-free eggs," she wrote. The Farm Bureau will also oppose "misguided" climate legislation pending in Congress.