Senator Jon Tester: Farmers Need Capitalism With Competition

#054: US Senator and organic grain farmer Jon Tester of Montana speaks bluntly about the outsized-influence of  lobbyists and the growth of monopolies, as well as how the lack of competition in our capitalist system is driving good farmers out of business. 

Jon Tester is an organic grain farmer who has served as the Senator of Montana since 2007. He is also the author of Grounded: A Senator's Lessons on Winning Back Rural America.

To watch a video version of this podcast with access to the full transcript and links relevant to our conversation, please visit:

https://www.realorganicproject.org/jon-tester-farmers- need-capitalism-with-competition-episode-fifty-four

The Real Organic Podcast is hosted by Dave Chapman and Linley Dixon, engineered by Brandon StCyr, and edited and produced by Jenny Prince.

The Real Organic Project is a farmer-led movement working towards certifying 1,000 farms across the United States this year. Our add-on food label distinguishes soil-grown fruits and vegetables from hydroponically-raised produce, and pasture-raised meat, milk, and eggs from products harvested from animals in horrific confinement (CAFOs - confined animal feeding operations).

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We believe that the organic standards, with their focus on soil health, biodiversity, and animal welfare were written as they should be, but that the current lack of enforcement of those standards is jeopardizing the ability for small farms who adhere to the law to stay in business. The lack of enforcement is also jeopardizing the overall health of the customers who support the organic movement; customers who are not getting what they pay for at market but still paying a premium price. And the lack of enforcement is jeopardizing the very cycles (water, air, nutrients) that Earth relies upon to provide us all with a place to live, by pushing extractive, chemical agriculture to the forefront.

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