--- FORWARD ---
The Corporate Reapers: The Book of Agribusiness
"This is a book filled not merely with fact, but with the
spirit of Thomas Jefferson, Shay's Rebellion, The Wizard of Oz,
Mary Ellen Lease, Upton Sinclair, Woody Guthrie, Cesar Chavez and
Willie Nelson. It's a big book about justice, and it speaks the
truth. Al Krebs has poured his life's work into this volume, and
it's a work well worth the telling. The Corporate Reapers will
inform you, anger you, broaden your vision and --- I hope ---
fire you up for reform."
- Jim Hightower, Former Texas
State Agricultural Commissioner
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To order a copy of The Corporate Reapers: The Book of
Agribusiness for $21.75 (which includes handling and
mailing) contact Essential Books:
http://www.essential.org/books/.
"In my 50 years of farming and as a farm activist and even longer
as a youngster spending hours listening to farm activists debate
and plan actions of the Farm Holiday in the early 1930's, I have
never seen a better documented book on the history and meaning of
farm struggles than The Corporate Reapers.
It is an important book to have at your side as a reference book
to pencil our important quotes, facts, figures or articles. It is
an `operators manual' that every person interested in farm, food
and land policy needs if we are going to build a national and
world community rather than a market, which in the final analysis
is choosing whether we are going to live together or die
together. It all starts with farm and food policy."
- Merle Hansen, President Emeritus, North American Farm Alliance
"A vertiable almanac of information, The Corporate Reapers
details how multinational agribusiness has worked to destroy the
family farm. Krebs explains that the decline of the family farm
is not the result of the interplay of market forces, but rather
of the price fixing and anti-competitive policies of Cargill,
Continental and ConAgra and their allies. The book is a valuable
resource for both farmers and consumers who have an interest in
preserving the availability of affordable and safe food."
- Ralph Nader, Consumer Advocate
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CORPORATE REAPERS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction: America's Permanent Agricultural Crisis
America's Permanent Agricultural Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1. Where Have All the Farmers Gone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2. Corporate America's Food Fight: Who Wins? Who Loses? Guess! . 35
Section One: Eliminating "Biologic Variables"
3. A Rural Bloodletting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
4. Sweet Land of Opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
5. Trapped on the Technological Treadmill . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6. Killing the Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Section Two: Controlling Our Food From "Seedling to Supermarket"
7. Living with the "Vicissitudes of the Market". . . . . . . . .101
8. What Is This Thing Called Food?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
9. "Every Trip to the Grocery Store - "A Crap Shoot". . . . . . 123
Section Three: The Evolution of a Policy
10. Breaking the Plains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
11. A Populism Born and Bred in Agrarian Revolt. . . . . . . . 145
12. Agriculture's "Golden Years". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
13. An "Interplay of Economic Forces". . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
14. Fighting for "Equality for Agriculture" . . . . . . . . . . 169
15. "Oh Say to Him, Stuff and Nonsense". . . . . . . . . . . . 175
16. A "New and Untrod Path". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181
17. Liberty Vs. Paternalism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189
18. War and Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
19. Peace and War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
20. "Adapt or Die". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
21. "New Frontiers" and New Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . .221
22. Ifs, Ands and Butz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Section Four: Communities of Economic Interests
23. Farmers As Barriers to the Destructuring of Democracy. . . 241
24. Say! Say! USDA! What Have You Done Today?. . . . . . . . . 253
25. Taxpayer Dollars Underwrite the Corporate Elite. . . . . . .263
26. The Enemy Within. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
27. Squeezing the Toothpaste. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Section Five: "The Reign, It's Plain, Is Mainly In the Grain"
28. Ebenezer Scrooge Was A Grain Trader. . . . . . . . . . . . .303
29. Many Are Called For, But Few Are the Chosen. . . . . . . . 317
30. "But It's The Name of the Game". . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
31. Supply and Demand in Agriculture? It's the Pits!. . . . . . 338
32. The "Sleeping Pygmy" and the "Chicago Mirage". . . . . . . .348
Section Six: Heading Toward the Last Roundup
33. The Big Three's Prime Cut. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .362
34. Hogging the Market. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
35. Efficiency and Ruthlessness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .384
Section Seven: The Struggle for Economic Equilibrium
36. Tapping the Roots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .396
37. Creating "New Wealth". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .408
38. Farmers Seeking Control Over Their Own Destiny. . . . . . . 426
39. Scaring Agribusiness to Death. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
Epilogue: Bringing the Corporate State Under Democratic Control
Bringing the Corporate State Under Democratic Control. . . . . 440
Appendix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .446
Principal Sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
Selected Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563