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“The money and political power of Wall Street has stolen America’s food system, bankrupted our farmers and ranchers, mined our soils, polluted our environment, wasted our precious water, and left us with expensive industrially produced food that makes us sick.” – Occupy Wall Street Food Day, December 2011 -
Industrial Agriculture and Urban Sprawl – A model of growth that’s made to fail. -
Ranching Reboot Episode 4, Mike Callicrate “It’s time for a third revolution against monopolies”
Above: Ranching Reboot – Episode 4 – Mike Callicrate, owner of Ranch Foods Direct, sat down with us to talk about all manner of things from cattle markets, to public food spaces, the Bander, his feedlot and the pathway he built to market.
He shares valuable lessons learned from fighting against the commodity production system and how he’s built his own pathway to the consumer.
We talk about small community slaughter plants and public meat spaces and what that could look like going in to the future. We discuss environmental challenges, the food police and what it means when a Dollar General comes to town.
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- This Cattleman's Got A Beef
Photo: Sean Cayton - 2003People producing good food from happy animals, while improving the environment, shouldn’t have to fear the government.
Photo above featured in a 2003 article: This cattleman's got a beef, Mike Callicrate and Ranch Foods Direct take on the big meat packersby Kathryn Eastburn
Tag Archives: Big packers
Ban On Meat Packer Ownership: Too Little, Too Late
By Mike Callicrate Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a longtime advocate for fair markets, is once again reintroducing a bill that would make it unlawful for meat packers to own livestock more than seven days prior to slaughter. Similar legislation has … Continue reading
Special Commission Appointed to Investigate Packers Makes Report
National Farmers’ Union | Salina, Kansas | August 22, 1918 Declare the Five Big Packers Control One-Half of Meat Supply of Allied Nations — Have Used Their Power to Manipulate Livestock Market. President Wilson has made public the recently filed … Continue reading
2,000 feedlots Shut Down
One of the original Scott County feedlots closing down after 44 years By Rod Haxton, editor David Duff has seen plenty of good times and bad in the cattle feeding industry. It’s a tough business in which it keeps getting … Continue reading
Stop the Strip Mining of Rural America With Commodity Checkoffs
Update, August 15, 2012 – See the following article from 2010: After campaign promises to fix agricultural markets and multiple hearings proving the dire need for immediate anti-trust law enforcement, the Obama administration did nothing. The departure of antitrust cops … Continue reading
Testimony of Mike Callicrate Concerning Competitive Livestock Markets, Price Discovery and Meat Labeling Nebraska Legislature Ag Committee Hearing February 2, 1999
Mr. Chairman, members of the Ag Committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. I have been involved in the cattle feeding business for twenty-five years. I have become increasingly concerned about the high levels of corporate … Continue reading
