Dear President Biden – Regarding Food System Reform

In regards to today’s Presidential panel on food system reform:

Building any new plants or expansion of existing plants is a fools game without a fair, open and competitive market. New facilities, and new investments in existing facilities, are already in trouble as consumers have returned to big box stores and big food service supplied independent, fast food, and chain restaurants. What school districts and institutions are buying local? Which government associated, or any kind of government influenced entities, from town, to city, to federal, are buying local? Break up the monopoly power first, invest in market access, and the plants will be built with very little, if any, government cash.

Why are the organizations claiming to represent family farmers and ranchers so averse to saying – there is no market?

An example of investing in reliable community-based market access for both producers and consumers:

Small food processors and family farm and ranch operations will have a fair chance of success if we build safe and profitable connections to consumers. Non-subsidized, and properly regulated, big-box stores would have little chance competing with public, or privately owned, shared-space community markets.

See: Let’s Meat – Challenges & opportunities in small and mid-scale meat and poultry processing