After 15 years in the courts, last week a federal jury found the two largest egg companies guilty of conspiring to cut the egg supply and raise prices.
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Large chocolate processors and manufacturers have the wealth and ability to pay farmers more and monitor their supply chains, but they choose not to. Instead, the least powerful players – the farmers – bear most the risks and responsibilities in cocoa production.
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Virginia State Senator A. Benton Chafin last week introduced a bill that would significantly hike “checkoff” taxes that cattle growers in the state must pay. The move follows efforts in other states—including recently in Oklahoma—to increase or introduce state-level checkoff taxes, which are charged in addition to the $1 per head tax collected at the federal level. Many local ranchers oppose both the tax and the idea that it will be imposed by the legislature, saying the process effectively shuts independent cattle producers out of having a say in this sector specific levy.
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