Nebraska Farmers Union Praises Long Over Due Historic Competition Executive Order
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: John Hansen 402-476-8815 Office or 402-580-8815 Cell
July 9, 2021 LINCOLN, NE – Nebraska Farmers Union (NeFU) praised President Joe Biden’s historic Executive Order on Competition and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack’s announcements in Council Bluffs, Iowa relative to the agricultural portions of that Executive Order. “President Biden’s Competition Executive Order is the most substantial commitment to making our economy more competitive and efficient since President Teddy Roosevelt’s Trust Busting efforts 120 years ago,” Hansen said.
“All the issues Secretary Vilsack covered are long standing and critical issues Nebraska and National Farmers Union have identified and worked on for years, and have been crying out for attention and remedy. Finally, we have a President that is willing to begin the process to tackle these complicated issues, Hansen said.
The agricultural issues covered by the Executive Order on Competition included:
- Right to Repair and the Commodity Future Trading Commission’s role in its oversight.
- Food Labeling.
- Ag Market Reforms.
- Funding to help increase the capacity of small meat markets.
- Acceleration of the deployment of high speed internet broadband to rural America.
- Direct HHS to examine hospital mergers to make sure we are not losing rural hospitals.
NeFU President Hansen said “This Executive Order marks the beginning of a complicated, badly needed, and long overdue process to restore competition to our free enterprise system. It is imperative we re-think our entire anti-trust regulatory premises and enforcement strategies. We must re-instill the notion that our public interests are best served when competition is in place to make sure our agricultural markets are competitive, accessible, transparent, and fair. We must also update the USDA Packers and Stockyards definitions so that USDA can effectively enforce those provisions in court. Now is the time for everyone who has been complaining about monopolies and lack of competition to set aside their partisan interests, and come together to roll up their sleeves and get to work on restoring competition to our entire American economy. This Executive Order of Competition is an historical step forward in that process.”
Nebraska Farmers Union is a general farm organization with 3,841 farm and ranch family members dedicated to protecting and enhancing the economic well-being and quality of life for family farmers and ranchers, and their rural communities. Since 1913, Nebraska Farmers Union has helped organize over 445 cooperatives.
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