idependent cattlemen of nebraska (icon) annual meeting 2010

Annual Meeting 2010

Declaring Independence!

By Mike Callicrate

It was an exciting experiment, and for a short time provided an opportunity for freedom and hope for mankind, until

the government was taken over by monied interests and corporate power.

Self interest before National interest Profit before peopleWall Street over Main Street

Phil Gramm

Wendy Gramm

The smartest guys in the room!

Deregulate!Deregulate!Deregulate!

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In a notice recently released by the CFTC, Painter said Judge Bruce Levine, his longtime colleague, had a secret agreement with a former Republican chairwoman of the agency to stand in the way of investors filing complaints with the agency.

"On Judge Levine's first week on the job, nearly twenty years ago, he came into my office and stated that he had promised Wendy Gramm, then Chairwoman of the Commission, that we would never rule in a complainant's favor,“

"A review of his rulings will confirm that he fulfilled his vow," Painter wrote.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission judge says colleague biased against complainantsBy David S. Hilzenrath - Washington Post Staff Writer - Tuesday, October 19, 2010; 11:09 PM

people [NCBA Executive Committee] that are knowledgeable about the issues facing our industry. The large group of grassroots producers we are always hearing about are not informed enough or knowledgeable enough to understand these issues.” - Jon Ferguson, January 31, 2000 - Past KLA President, NCBA Governance Task Force, NCBA Executive Committee, Checkoff Executive Committee

“It is important the decisions of the cattle industry be made by this group of educated

The smartest “cowboys” in the room?

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Upgrading the round, By Alan Newport

New research in Oklahoma may help upgrade one of the largest segments of the beef carcass: the round [and cheap, low quality imported meat].

Meat scientists have been working with a system that injects finely ground fat and lean tissue combined with a brine solution essentially to add marbling to the lean muscles in the round.

The smart “cowboys” manufactured, pretend meat

Agribusiness Political Contributions to Signers

Total for 115 Signers D Total R Total

$48,605,199 $20,212,782 $28,392,417

Anti-GIPSA rule letter to Vilsack

$1,970,447 $1,177,644

Collin C. Peterson , D-Minn. Frank D. Lucas, R-Okla.

Data is based on the All Fresh Choice Beef price – USDA – ERS

Producer Share of the Consumer Beef Dollar

Proof of Abusive Market PowerReducing income at the farm and ranch gate…

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While costs to the middlemen have decreased…

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29221

29556

29891

30225

30560

30895

31229

31564

31898

32234

32568

32905

33239

33573

33909

34243

34578

34912

35247

35582

35916

36251

36586

36923

37257

37591

37926

38261

38596

38930

39264

39607

39934

$450

$500

$550

$600

$650

$700

Average Weekly Earnings for Animal Slaughter Plant Workers.

BLS Data Adjusted for Inflation (in 2009 dol-lars)

Month

Weekly

Earn

ings

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Grocery Manufactures Association

There is money in the food business…

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N7100C – CargillN199HF – Hormel FoodsN97SJ – J.M. SmuckerN1897S – J.M. SmuckerN135FT – Albertson’sN46E – HuntN604CL – HersheyN654CM – Crossmark Corp.N457H – Bank of AmericaN606RP – Nestle Purina Pet Care Co.N102CX – CloroxN545CS – Wells FargoN604MU – Dean Mfg. Group

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Trucks in St. Francis, KSSept. 6, 2009

Old Calnon place, So. of St. Francis

Winter day on Webster St.

Meanwhile, back on the farm…

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Photograph from the book, Great Ranches of the West ©2007 Jim Keen, All Rights ReservedRead a sample chapter and order the book at www.greatranchesofthewest.com – 800-363-5336

It’s the national security issue no one is talking about.

Poorest counties by per capita income

Statistics derived from U.S. Census Bureau data; U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Survey of Current Business; and DataQuick Information Systems, a public records database company located in La Jolla, San Diego, CA. – July 2010

Ben Franklin 1706-1790

There seem to be but three ways for a nation to acquire wealth. The first is by war, as the Romans did,

in plundering their conquered neighbors. This is robbery. The

second by commerce, which is generally cheating. The third by agriculture, the only honest way, wherein man receives a real increase of the seed thrown into the ground, in a kind of continual miracle, wrought by the hand of God in his favor, as a reward for his innocent life and his virtuous industry.

Now you (U.S. cattleman) will know how Canadians feel with Cargill and IBP/Tyson in our midst.Tom C. – Canadian cattleman

JBS

Please, please Mr. Bastista, will you give my starving children something to eat?

JBS Swift & Co. Chief Executive Officer Wesley Batista

The power to be ruthless…

JBSSWIFT

TYSON

“…there is no stopping it(concentration). This is an evolution that’s going to takeplace in spite of whoeveris in the way.”

Robert Peterson, IBP Chairman and CEO, July 1996$20 Billion by 2001 article, in Meat and Poultry

"You should be suing Wal-Mart [instead of IBP], they are the problem. They tell us what they will pay and we have no choice but to pay you less.“- John Tyson, 2002

Average return on equity before tax (ROE)

All Farming & ranching: ROE = NEGATIVE 0.54% (last 13 years)

Retail grocery: ROE = 21% (last 6 years)

Meat packing: ROE = 17% (last 6 years)

Packers--for those with sales > $500k - Before tax ROE, 2002-2009: 17.38% - source: http://www.bizminer.com/industries/Meat-packing-plants-2011/

Retail grocery--food marketing institute book - http://www.fmi.org - 2003-2009 average: before tax ROE = 20.75%

Cattle--for the farm typology "cattle" meaning primarily cattle operations in USDA/ERS annual surveys - http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/ARMS/

There is an economic term to describe this phenomenon. It is called…

STEALING

- John W. Helmuth, Ph.D, Ag Economist. He warned early of the dangers of concentrated market power by packers and agribusiness. He died in November of 1999.

"These guys are nothing but old-time gangsters, thugs and thieves. They beat your brains in with their market power and take your money." - Mike Callicrate

http://www.nobull.net/CattlemenLegal/news/2004/1-31-04MikeResponse.htm

Defending the rich and powerful…

“Rhetoric and poverty abound: cheap writers and expensive sages have always dedicated themselves to absolving the guilty of all guilt.” - Open Veins of Latin America, Eduardo Galeano, P. 148

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Andy Gottschalk

Chandler Keys, JBS

Touting for Big Agribusiness - mentally conditioning producers to take less…and to stay hitched!

Steve Dittmer, Agribusiness Freedom Foundation

Trent Loos, Loos Tales Land Grant Universities

Troy MarshallRandy Blach, Cattle-Fax

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"Hear this, you who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land, [5] saying, "When will the new moon be over, So that we may sell grain, And the Sabbath, that we may open the wheat market, To make the bushel smaller and the shekel bigger, And to cheat with dishonest scales, [6] So as to buy the helpless for money And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?"" - Amos 8:4-6 - Days of prophecy 760 to 755 BC

The East India Company, created in December of 1600, with Queen Elizabeth as CEO, was the world's first multinational corporation.

In 1776 the East India Company held a virtual stranglehold on commerce and politics in North America and used British troops as its enforcers.

Corporate rule and tyranny

“Farmers need to raise less corn and more hell.”

Mary Elizabeth Lease 1853-1933

She also said, “Wall Street owns the country. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street.”

She continues, “Our laws are the output of a system which clothes rascals in robes and honesty in rags…

The people are at bay, let the bloodhounds of money who have dogged us thus far beware.”

“In the struggle for justice, the only reward is the opportunity to be in the struggle.”-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass

Pickett vs. IBP trial, Montgomery, Alabama , January 2004

From left to Right: Van Davis, Leo McDonnell, Sam Britt, Chris Abbott, Pat Goggins, Swede Calnon, Bob Rothwell, Johnny Smith, Herman Schumacher, Mike Callicrate, Lovel Blain, Stayton Weldon

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When we lose our markets, we lose our freedom!

A new food system of independent family farmers and ranchers fairly compensated in an open and competitive marketplace is our only hope for saving our rural communities, improving the national economy, and ensuring a prosperous future for our children.

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…until then, raise Hell!