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Saturday, April 29, 2017

Chicken farmer to Trump: We voted for you, now we need your help

I am a chicken farmer in West Virginia. I’ve been a farmer all my life and have raised chickens for almost 15 years under contract. I am writing this open letter to you because farmers and ranchers need your help badly.

I voted for you and supported your campaign. I know several of my friends and neighboring farmers did the same. In your campaign you said you would work to support hard working, independent American businesses, and that you would listen to what rural Americans really need. This week, you expressed support for American dairy farmers and criticized Canadian trade practices that hurt them—poultry farmers need the same focus, and swift action.

Right now, we need your help. Earlier this month, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) dealt a crippling blow to small American farmers by delaying the implementation of its “Farmer Fair Practice Rules” by 180 days. These rules, if implemented on schedule, would have helped independent farmers like me and my friends challenge the abusive and unfair contracts imposed by industrial poultry companies.

As farmers, with families who depend on us, we are dismayed by the move and we’re calling on President Trump to make good on his campaign pledge—to drain the swamp of Big meat lobbyists who continue to cut bad deals that hurt rural economies and families.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

For God's sake, he's only been in office for 100 days and it's been a uphill battle with Democrats, Establishment and Media. Farmers need to chill out. It took over 30 years to make this mess, it's going to take more than 15 minutes to clean it up!

Anonymous said...

You forgot the biggest block he is fighting - the Republican party.

Anonymous said...

LOL! Right, he's gonna get on that ASAP.