Today, the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM),
and Competitive Markets Action (CMA), called on President Joe
Biden and U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, to
dismiss USDA’s Pork Checkoff Board Member Stewart
Leeth, the chief sustainability officer at Smithfield Foods, a
company wholly owned by the Chinese group 万洲国际, and whose
purchase in 2013 was financed directly by the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP).
The groups’ call for Leeth’s removal comes on the heels of
the House Committee on Agriculture’s hearing entitled
“The Danger China Poses to American Agriculture” that
was held in April by House Agriculture Committee Chairman
Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, R-PA. It also comes in the wake
of countless lobbying firms delisting Chinese
clients as lawmakers have weighed blacklisting
firms lobbying for the Chinese. Yet the Biden Administration,
and Secretary Vilsack have failed to sever its long controversial
ties with Chinese-owned Smithfield’s executive.
“The Biden Administration and Secretary Tom Vilsack should
immediately remove Stewart Leeth from the Pork Checkoff Board that
has long-worked against American producers who pay into the
till,” said Greg Gunthorp of Gunthorp Farms, a
lifelong pork producer in Indiana and supporter of Competitive
Markets Action. “Chinese-owned Smithfield and their
minions that continue to infiltrate American agriculture production
are one of the greatest threats facing our food safety and security
and we must not allow China to prevail in their quest.”
“If the Biden Administration and Secretary Vilsack continue to
push China’s Smithfield agenda in a government program that
American producers are forced to pay into and keep Leeth on the
board, we’ll swiftly see the last remaining independent pork
producers in the U.S. fold up shop,” said Taylor
Haynes, president of the Organization for Competitive
Markets. “It doesn’t get any swampier than the
situation we see with Leeth sitting on the Pork Checkoff Board and
our government should quickly execute his removal.”
The process for removal can be found here.
Background:
According to the Smithfield Times, Chinese-owned Smithfield
Foods, a proponent of the EATS Act, H.R. 4417/S. 2019, continues to
advocate for the enactment of the legislation that would devastate
family farmers across rural America and could put what few
independent hog farmers are left in the U.S. out of business.
And according to federal lobbying reports, Holland and
Knight, one of the largest lobbying firms in Washington, D.C., has
been paid nearly $1 million representing the Chinese conglomerate
over the past year.
China's Smithfield continues to be a very serious and dangerous
threat to the American farmers and ranchers and U.S. food
production as the company continues to back and lobby for this
bill. This dangerous legislation, led by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-KS,
and Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-IA, would nullify more than 1,000 state
laws that protect American family farmers from a Chinese influence.
The EATS Act, and other legislation like it is being pushed by
House Chairman Thompson, but is opposed by more
than 2,000 diverse opponents with millions of members
that include Moms For America, Farm Action, Competitive Markets
Action, the Organization of Competitive Markets, FreedomWorks, the
American Grassfed Association, Alabama Contract Poultry Growers
Association, Kansas Cattlemen’s Association, and three of the
nation’s top American-owned pork producers: Heritage Foods, Niman
Ranch, and Clemens Food Group/Hatfield Meats, who was featured in
Forbes for their ethical pork production.
In addition to the EATS Act, another issue being debated in
Congress is the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s scandal-ridden
Commodity Checkoff Programs that fund the National Pork Producers
Council (NPPC) and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).
Groups like OCM, CMA, and many of those that oppose EATS support
legislation introduced by Sens. Mike Lee, R-UT, Rand Paul, R-KY,
Cory Booker, D-NJ, and Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, in the Senate and
Reps. Nancy Mace, R-SC, and Dina Titus, D-NV, in the House: H.R.
1249/S. 557, the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF)
Act that would reform the checkoff programs by bringing
transparency and requiring the programs be audited for compliance;
by prohibiting disparagement of one product over another and
picking winners and losers in the marketplace; and by prohibiting
checkoffs from contracting with lobbying entities like NCBA who
lobbied against Country-of-Origin Labeling, and the NPPC who has
fought against state ballot measures like California’s Prop 12 that
benefit American producers who practice more regenerative and
sustainable agriculture.
Further on EATS, 10 U.S. House Republicans, led by House Freedom
Caucus (HFC) champion Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-FL, sent a
letter that included HFC chairman Bob Good, R-VA, to Thompson
and Ranking Member David Scott, D-GA, against the nullification of
Prop 12 that followed a similar October 2023 letter to
Thompson and Scott signed by 16 House Republicans and led by
front-liner Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-NY.
To date, 226 bipartisan Members of Congress have vocalized their
opposition to the nullification of Prop 12 by Thompson R-PA, Rep.
Ashley Hinson, R-IA, and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-KS, who continue to
champion the assault. 171 bipartisan Members of the House sent
a letter to Thompson and Scott in August of 2023 and 31
U.S. Senators sent a similar letter to Senate Agriculture
Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-MI, and Ranking Member John Boozman,
R-AR, last August.
Since the EATS Act was introduced in 2023, the only public
opposition Prop 12 has seen from a Democrat in federal office is
from USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, D-IA, who has a long record
of backing Chinese agriculture interests.
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.
Competitive Markets Action (CMA) is a 501(c)(4) non-profit
based in Washington, D.C., that was formed with the mission of
shaping policy to promote more regenerative and sustainable
agriculture, and competitive markets in the U.S., and to defend
against attacks on states’ rights by the federal government. CMA
works to raise awareness of the harm caused by multinational
conglomerates to the American family farmer, the consumer and our
U.S. economy as a whole in an effort to bring about legislative and
regulatory reforms.
Marty Irby
Competitive Markets Action
202-821-5686
marty@competitivemarketsaction.org