USDOJ, USDA, and Mississippi Ag Commissioner Rally with American Family Farmers and Ranchers at Organization for Competitive Markets Annual Meeting
May 10 2024 - 10:31AM
Members of the Organization for Competitive
Markets (OCM), met in the Southeastern U.S., for the group’s
annual conference, general membership meeting, and election of
officers. Members of OCM joined the conference from Alabama,
Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Kansas, Missouri,
Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West
Virginia, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The group was blessed with a
raft of speakers that included Mississippi Commissioner of
Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson, Deputy Assistant Attorney
General at the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Michael Kades, and Andy
Green, Senior Advisor to the Secretary at the U.S. Dept of
Agriculture. A full list of speakers can be found here.
One of the largest and most well attended annual conferences OCM
has seen in more than a decade, the events and conference were
planned and executed by OCM Founder Fred Stokes, a native
Mississippian who resides in Portersville, and longtime office
manager Pat Craycraft who drove two full days each way just to be
there.
“The case has been made to bring small processors, feed lots,
and additional infrastructure back to the Southeastern U.S. so that
American food production is not centralized in the Mid-West and
further consolidated with the four big packer monopoly than runs
the American meat cartel,” said Fred Stokes, Founder
of OCM. “We applaud and appreciate each of our
speakers and the OCM membership for their steadfast dedication to
bring fairness and regional voices from the Southeast into the
fold.”
The conference was focused on expanding regional agriculture
infrastructure, the continued work of OCM to create and improve
competitive markets in the U.S., and how the USDOJ, USDA, and State
Departments of Agriculture can address the decades-long
monopolization of American agriculture by foreign interests like
the Chinese-owned Smithfield and Brazil-based JBS.
OCM’s general membership meeting saw the election of former
Kansas State House Representative Tatum Lee-Hahn to replace Jerika
Brumbeloe, reelection of Board Directors Marty Irby from
Washington, D.C., and Taylor Haynes of Laramie, Wyoming, and as
well as the reelection of the 2024 officers by unanimous consent
with no opposition. Haynes will continue to serve as President,
Mike Schultz of Brewster, Kansas as Vice-President, Irby as
Secretary, and Jonathan Buttram of Albertville, Alabama as
Treasurer.
During the annual meeting Fred Stokes, Tatum Lee-Hahn, and
others discussed planning for the 2025 convention and it was
decided a committee would be appointed by President Haynes to
secure a location in the Southeastern U.S. again next
year. The groups also received commentary from board member
Dave Wright of Neligh, Nebraska, spoke about the continued
concentration in the marketplace and Stokes spoke about the
long-term damage the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA)
continues to cause to Southeastern markets and the need for
Congress to recognize that NCBA only represents 3% of the cattle
industry which is barely a fraction of the market and producers in
the space.
“I’m honored to be selected to serve as President of OCM for a
third term and appreciate the membership’s confidence in our
leadership,” said Taylor Haynes, President of OCM, and
Founder of Wyoming’s Independent Cattle Producers
Organization. “We’ve made astounding strides over the
past year and I’m especially encouraged by the outpour of support
for our efforts and collaboration with Mississippi Agriculture
Commissioner Andy Gipson, the U.S. Dept. of Justice, U.S. Dept. of
Agriculture, and others who now see the agriculture model in the
U.S. must be changed. I applaud the work dedicated to the
organization by Marty Irby and congratulate him on receiving
the Helmuth Award this year – OCM’s highest honor.”
“Many thanks to the members of OCM for giving me the opportunity
to serve as Vice-President for another year,” said
Mike Schultz, Vice-President at OCM and Founder of the Kansas
Cattlemen’s Association. “The groundswell of support for
OCM has put us in a stronger position than we’ve ever been, and
industrial agriculture interests that have put countless American
family farmers and ranchers out of business are on the run.”
“The groundswell of support OCM has seen in the past year from
producers and elected officials across America is astounding and
we’re making more of a difference in Washington, D.C. than I’ve
ever seen before,” said Jonathan Buttram, Treasurer at
OCM and President of the Alabama Contract Poultry Growers
Association. “Our finances are in great shape and we
have the opportunity to make greater change and have more
impact than we ever have in the upcoming Farm Bill – I appreciate
the membership’s confidence in reelecting me to serve another
term.”
The annual Helmuth Award – OCM’s highest honor named in
remembrance of OCM’s late co-founder John Helmuth was awarded to
Board Director and Secretary Marty Irby.
“I am deeply humbled to receive the John Helmuth Award, have
never been more surprised to have such a distinguished honor
bestowed upon me, and truly believe that God is with
us,” said Marty Irby, Secretary at OCM and President
at Competitive Markets Action who is leading the groups’ lobbying
efforts in Washington, D.C. “If the National
Cattlemen’s Beef Association and Berman Co. believe their continued
slanderous personal attacks against me are working for them, they
should take note their actions only further fuel my desire to work
harder and make dramatic change that will improve the lives of the
American family farmers that keep this country fed. China’s front
men and whipping boys will not prevail.”
The Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) is a
501(c)(3) non-profit based in Lincoln, Nebraska. The
foundation of the Organization for Competitive Markets is to fight
for competitive markets in agriculture for farmers, ranchers and
rural communities. True competition reduces the need for economic
regulation. Our mission, and our duty, is to define and advocate
the proper role of government in the agricultural economy as a
regulator and enforcer of rules necessary for markets that are
fair, honest, accessible and competitive for all citizens.
- Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy
Gipson
- Michael Kades, Fred Stokes, and Andy Green at Annual OCM
Conference
Marty Irby
Competitive Markets Action
202-821-5686
marty@competitivemarketsaction.org