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Food Integrity Campaign Blog

FIC works to have USDA compensate farmers – not the corporations- directly for Covid 19 losses.  

FIC Staff | June 17, 2020

FIC works to have USDA compensate farmers – not the corporations- directly for Covid 19 losses.  

FIC and its farmer advocacy partners are suggesting legislative language that would ensure farmers do not face bankruptcy during Covid-19. The pandemic has shown in sharp relief the many ways our industrial meat system has been designed to drive profit at the expense of animals, workers, and farmers. FIC launched its Growing Resistance campaign to help contract farmers blow the whistle on the problems within this exploitative system.  

The supply chain is fragile and farmers are being asked to carry the burden of decades of corporate excess and profiteering. In the past month, Covid-19 cases have spiked in slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants across the country. At one point, up to 50% of the country’s processing capacity was stalled by shutdowns, creating a tremendous bottleneck in the supply chain. As companies jack up prices, farmers are being asked to euthanize their animals.  

As the companies, not the farmers, own the animals, traditional disaster relief programs that reimburse the owners only benefit the company. Our proposed language would develop programs at USDA that would directly compensate farmers – not the corporations – for a significant portion of their lost incomes due to the pandemic.  

FIC’s mission is to stand up to corporate abuse and support farmer whistleblowers who bring the truth to the public. Stay tuned as we fight to keep the pressure on those in power.