Family Farm Defenders

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 4/2/15:

Contact: John E. Peck, Executive Director, Family Farm Defenders, (608) 260-0900

Chicago, Illinois – In conjunction with a series of actions around the world against unfair trade (https://www.globaltradeday.org/) and to mark La Via Campesina’s International Day of Peasant Struggle (viacampesina.org/), farmers and their allies will be holding a speak out at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) – 141 W. Jackson – at noon on Friday April 17th to expose the price fixing by commodity speculators that profit from the globalization of hunger, poverty, oppression, and pollution. This educational leaflet will urge passerbys to contact Congress to oppose Fast Track and to also apply pressure on the Dept. of Justice to enforce anti-trust laws at the world’s largest private trading platform where markets are routinely rigged to the detriment of farmers and consumers alike.

The evening before the CME speak out – Thurs. April 16th at 6:00 pm at the Jane Addams Hull House Museum (800 S. Halsted in Chicago) – family farmers from across the Midwest will be joining indigenous activists, consumer advocates, and other key allies for a Community Forum on Food Sovereignty. Panelists include: John Ikerd, agricultural economist and sustainable agriculture advocate (MO); Ben Burkett, farmer with the Southern Federation of Cooperatives (MS); Joel Greeno, farmer with Family Farm Defenders (WI); Lisa Griffith of the National Family Farm Coalition (MO); Nikos Pastos, activist with the Alaska Big Village Network (AK); John E. Peck with Family Farm Defenders (WI); Jessica Fujan with Food and Water Watch (IL), Seva Gandhi of the Chicago Sustainability Leaders Network (IL), Orrin Williams of the Center for Urban Transformation (IL); as well as representatives from the Friends of the MST, the Landless Workers Movement in Brazil.

For more info on the food sovereignty forum, visit Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1428858354074903/

From its humble beginning in 1898 as the non-profit Chicago Butter and Egg Board, the CME has since grown into the world’s largest private trading clearinghouse. Each day an elite group of commodity traders gathers at the CME to swap such products as natural gas, carbon credits, soybeans, cheddar cheese, fertilizer, and feather meal (ground up dead chickens and chicken manure used to feed livestock). Within seconds this “thin” market reverberates around the globe, affecting farm gate prices and grocery bills for billions of people. In 2002 the CME began issuing its own stock, and in 2007 acquired the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) for $8 billion as one of its designated contract markets (DCMs). In 2008 the CME Group bought out another rival, the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) for $8.9 billion, and in 2009 also acquired the Dow Jones Indexes. At the close of 2014 the CME reported handling over 15 million contracts per day and had paid out over $1.3 billion in dividends to its shareholders.

While some human shouting still occurs in the “pit,” over 70% of CME trading now happens quietly behind the scenes through its Globex electronic platform. The majority of this trading is now also done by speculators, who have no tangible interest in the commodities they buy and sell. CME remains the most profitable business in Chicago, yet it insists upon millions in tax breaks each year from the State of Illinois in order to keep it from relocating. The revolving door cadre of CME executives are also among the wealthiest people in the country. The U.S. Dept. of Justice (DoJ) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) supposedly watchdog the CME but seldom take action against criminal activity. Among these bad actors are many of the world’s largest food giants and even corrupt farmer co-ops. For instance, in 2008 the CFTC found Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) guilty of rigging milk prices through dairy trading at the CME and levied an unprecedented $12 million fine. In late March 2015 the CFTC also charged Kraft Foods with rigging global wheat prices at the CME.

“The real solution to feeding the world, cooling the planet, and sharing prosperity is found in fair trade, sustainable agriculture, and democratic sovereignty – that is the message behind La Via Campesina’s International Peasants Day,” noted John E. Peck, executive director of Family Farm Defenders. “We are calling upon our elected officials in Washington DC to reject Fast Track and other forced trade deals that are now being railroaded through Congress. We also insist that speculators obey the law and that the Dept. of Justice bring an end to the illegal racketeering now underway at the CME so that consumers, workers, and farmers benefit from agriculture – not just agribusiness executives and corporate shareholders.”

You can help spread the word about the Stop Fast Track speak out at the CME through sharing our Facebook event:

https://www.facebook.com/events/543018202504158/

With Keynote Speaker: Marty Strange,co-founder of the Center for  Rural Affairs and author of Family Farming: a New Economic Vision

Introduced by UW-Madison Prof. Jack Kloppenburg, coordinator of the Opne Source Seed Initiative (OSSI)

Sat. March 14^th 5:00 – 9:00 pm

UW-Madison’s Pyle Center

(702 Langdon St., Madison WI)

Among the current sponsors of this year’s John Kinsman prize which FFD is especially proud to recognize are:  Jean Kinsman, Food and Water Watch, Hiroshi and Arlene Kanno, Willy St. Co-op, John Adamowski, Cornucopia Institute, Jim and Rebecca Goodman (Northwood Farms), Midwest Environmental Advocates, John and Mary Ann Kinsman, Viroqua Food Co-op, Tony Schultz and Kat Becker (Stoney Acres Farm), Farley Center for Peace Justice and Sustainability, M. Grace Grzanek, Pete Hardin (the Milkweed), Krueger Printing, and Bill Anderson (Creme de la Coulee).

Preceded from 12:00 Noon – 4:00 pm by the

Family Farm Defenders Annual Meeting

With updates on such issues as the dairy crisis, frack

sand mining, climate justice, genetically modified

organisms, and factory farm struggles, as well as board

elections. The public is most welcome to attend!

Award Dinner tickets are $50 per person

($35 for low income or student)

You can purchase your ticket online here JK Prize Dinner Tickets!

For more info, contact FFD: tel. 608-260-0900 email: familyfarmdefenders@yahoo.com

The latest issue of the Defender newsletter has been published with great articles on this year’s Food Sovereignty Prize event in Des Moines, the Loss of African American Farmers, Oregon’s Right to Farm Law, the Corporate Takeover of Grocery Stores, Wisconsin’s Failure to Enforce Factory Farm Rules, the recent Climate Justice march in NYC, and much more!

You can find an electronic version here:   Defender Newsletter Fall 2014

But if you would like to join FFD as a member you can also receive a paper copy of the Defender in the mail to share with neighbors and friends!  Please support our work with an end of the year tax deductible donation – we depend upon YOU to sustain our grassroots work.  Best wishes and happy holidays!

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And here is the program of who spoke when!

7:00 PM   MCs Welcome everyone to the 6th Food Sovereignty Prize, thank the Gateway Dance Theatre, explain the program, and introduce the “mistica” to honor Charity Hicks and John Kinsman, the ancestors,   Yeshica Weerasekera and George Naylor

7:05 PM   Gateway Dancers sing and dance to open ceremony