Ag roundtable with Senator Cory Booker, J.D. Scholten for U.S. Congress, David Weaver for Iowa State House, local farmers, and ag businesses at the Boone County Democrats HQ. 

Join J.D. and our special guests in conversation centered on corporate consolidation in agriculture and why this must be addressed in rural Iowa. There will be time for questions and discussion from those in attendance.

U.S. Senator Cory Booker has introduced S. 3404, the Food and Agribusiness Merger Moratorium and Antitrust Review Act of 2018, a bill that would put an 18-month moratorium on large agribusiness, food and beverage manufacturing, and grocery retail mergers and acquisitions. S.3404, is aimed at the unprecedented concentration in the agriculture and food sectors, which is squeezing small family farmers, driving down wages for workers, and hurting rural communities.

In just the past two years, chemical and seed company acquisitions and mergers like the blockbuster Monsanto-Bayer deal have allowed just three companies to control two-thirds of the crop seed and nearly 70 percent of the agriculture chemical markets. Meanwhile, net farm income for US farmers has fallen by more than half in just five years.