AFF Sentinel Vol.4#35

Do we have to defend our freedom to operate as we see fit?

Yes, we do. From radicals within the cattle industry to do-gooder activist groups to populist politicians in Washington, there are lots of people certain they know how to run your business -- and our industry -- better than we do.

But there is a one-of-a-kind organization out there, acting as vanguard and skirmisher for the beef industry. This group does not replace existing trade associations. But it serves as the scout and blunt interpreter, the "sentinel," if you will, to warn the beef industry of what these groups are really about and what their success would mean to our hard-won industry.

The winner of accolades from hundreds of cattlemen, packers and retailers alike, this group needs your support to continue its undiplomatic, fact- based, plain-spoken salvos in reply to the demagogues, the proponents of big government and the uninformed "do-gooders."

This group has been funded - on a confidential basis - by beef industry people. These are the people who believe that consumers - our customers - are at the top of the economic pyramid. They believe our entire beef production chain, arrayed under consumers in that pyramid, should be as free as possible to compete and/or cooperate as we see fit, to innovate, to improve our efficiency and protect the quality and food safety interests of our customers.

The Agribusiness Freedom Foundation needs your help to continue the work we've outline above. Our strategy of disseminating information and opinion over the internet has so far yielded:

• Over 575,000 reader impressions of the AFF Sentinel electronic newsletter
  
• Over 150,000 page visits on the www.agribusinessfreedom.org website.
  
• Thousands of additional newsletter impressions from associations, companies and individuals who forward the Sentinel on to others.
  
• The attention of legislators, influential officials and lobbyists in Washington D.C.
  
• Articles in publications across the country and the shaping of the thoughts of editorial writers and radio commentators
  

What we have done is arm the rational majority of beef industry participants with facts and logical arguments they can use to form their opinions and influence others in the industry. That is how movements are born - or stopped, legislators' votes shaped and our freedoms protected.

Please send us a check today or visit our website to use a credit card to make a contribution. And talk to some like-minded colleagues who share your understanding of the need and everyone's responsibility to fight for our freedoms.
AFF Purpose Statement: Promoting free market principles throughout the agricultural food chain.
Major Issues:

• The importance of non-restrictive cattle ownership to producing quality beef efficiently through beef alliances, marketing agreements, contracts and branded beef programs (vs. packer bans or producer/packer partnership bans.)
  
• The protectionist mandatory COOL legislation masquerading as a food safety measure, foisting tremendous cost on the entire beef chain for no real consumer benefit
  
• The importance and win/win benefits from free trade as opposed to cutting off imports and triggering trade wars ending our export recovery.
  
• Preserving all possible options for the beef industry to use in adapting to changing consumer demands worldwide, instead of allowing limitations by government fiat to be imposed on agriculture's marketing methods, company structure, operation size, business diversification and coordination. Why should agriculture be denied business tools other industries use?
  
• The danger to production agriculture threatened by animal activist groups imposing human values on the housing, care and veterinary care of production animals, e.g. Humane Society of the U.S., Public Citizen, GRACE, Farm Sanctuary, PETA and a host of others.
  
• Defending the check-off and its current legal structure as designed by cattlemen for cattlemen to fund innovative new products and approaches, research for nutrition and health defense, issues management, promotion and advertising.
  
• Opposing efforts by do-gooders to restrict whether or not cattlemen use new genetic or scientific production tools or approved medications and feed additives in order to utilize natural resources and animals in the most efficient and prudent manner.
  
• Opposing legal obstruction and public relations efforts to hobble or eliminate production agriculture's efforts to utilize natural resources by use of the Endangered Species Act, National Environment Protection Act or other government rule or regulation
  

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