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BOOK:The Corporate Reapers: The Book of Agribusiness



Hi - Haven't read this yet - found it on a Web cruise - thought it might be
of interest to the list - anyone looked at it yet?  P. Dines

--- FORWARD ---

The Corporate Reapers: The Book of Agribusiness

             "This is a book filled not merely with fact, but with the
     spirit of Thomas Jefferson, Shay's Rebellion, The Wizard of Oz,
     Mary Ellen Lease, Upton Sinclair, Woody Guthrie, Cesar Chavez and
     Willie Nelson. It's a big book about justice, and it speaks the
     truth. Al Krebs has poured his life's work into this volume, and
     it's a work well worth the telling. The Corporate Reapers will
     inform you, anger you, broaden your vision and --- I hope ---
     fire you up for reform."

               - Jim Hightower, Former Texas
          State Agricultural Commissioner

          [Image]
          To order a copy of The Corporate Reapers: The Book of
          Agribusiness for $21.75 (which includes handling and
          mailing) contact Essential Books:
          http://www.essential.org/books/.


     "In my 50 years of farming and as a farm activist and even longer
     as a youngster spending hours listening to farm activists debate
     and plan actions of the Farm Holiday in the early 1930's, I have
     never seen a better documented book on the history and meaning of
     farm struggles than The Corporate Reapers.

     It is an important book to have at your side as a reference book
     to pencil our important quotes, facts, figures or articles. It is
     an `operators manual' that every person interested in farm, food
     and land policy needs if we are going to build a national and
     world community rather than a market, which in the final analysis
     is choosing whether we are going to live together or die
     together. It all starts with farm and food policy."

     - Merle Hansen, President Emeritus, North American Farm Alliance


     "A vertiable almanac of information, The Corporate Reapers
     details how multinational agribusiness has worked to destroy the
     family farm. Krebs explains that the decline of the family farm
     is not the result of the interplay of market forces, but rather
     of the price fixing and anti-competitive policies of Cargill,
     Continental and ConAgra and their allies. The book is a valuable
     resource for both farmers and consumers who have an interest in
     preserving the availability of affordable and safe food."

     - Ralph Nader, Consumer Advocate

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                             CORPORATE REAPERS

                             TABLE OF CONTENTS

     Introduction: America's Permanent Agricultural Crisis

     America's Permanent Agricultural Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . .  15

     1. Where Have All the Farmers Gone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  23

     2. Corporate America's Food Fight: Who Wins? Who Loses? Guess! . 35


     Section One: Eliminating "Biologic Variables"

     3. A Rural Bloodletting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

     4. Sweet Land of Opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

     5. Trapped on the Technological Treadmill . . . . . . . . . . . 73

     6. Killing the Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  85


     Section Two: Controlling Our Food From "Seedling to Supermarket"

     7. Living with the "Vicissitudes of the Market". . . . . . . . .101

     8. What Is This Thing Called Food?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

     9. "Every Trip to the Grocery Store - "A Crap Shoot". . . . . . 123


     Section Three: The Evolution of a Policy

     10. Breaking the Plains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

     11. A Populism Born and Bred in Agrarian Revolt. . . . . . . .  145

     12. Agriculture's "Golden Years". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

     13. An "Interplay of Economic Forces". . . . . . . . . . . . .  163

     14. Fighting for "Equality for Agriculture" . . . . . . . . . . 169

     15. "Oh Say to Him, Stuff and Nonsense". . . . . . . . . . . .  175

     16. A "New and Untrod Path". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181

     17. Liberty Vs. Paternalism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189

     18. War and Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

     19. Peace and War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  203

     20. "Adapt or Die". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

     21. "New Frontiers" and New Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . .221

     22. Ifs, Ands and Butz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229


     Section Four: Communities of Economic Interests

     23. Farmers As Barriers to the Destructuring of Democracy. . .  241

     24. Say! Say! USDA! What Have You Done Today?. . . . . . . . .  253

     25. Taxpayer Dollars Underwrite the Corporate Elite. . . . . . .263

     26. The Enemy Within. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

     27. Squeezing the Toothpaste. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289


     Section Five: "The Reign, It's Plain, Is Mainly In the Grain"

     28. Ebenezer Scrooge Was A Grain Trader. . . . . . . . . . . . .303

     29. Many Are Called For, But Few Are the Chosen. . . . . . . .  317

     30. "But It's The Name of the Game". . . . . . . . . . . . . .  328

     31. Supply and Demand in Agriculture? It's the Pits!. . . . . . 338

     32. The "Sleeping Pygmy" and the "Chicago Mirage". . . . . . . .348


     Section Six: Heading Toward the Last Roundup

     33. The Big Three's Prime Cut. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .362

     34. Hogging the Market. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

     35. Efficiency and Ruthlessness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .384


     Section Seven: The Struggle for Economic Equilibrium

     36. Tapping the Roots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .396

     37. Creating "New Wealth". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .408

     38. Farmers Seeking Control Over Their Own Destiny. . . . . . . 426

     39. Scaring Agribusiness to Death. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  432


     Epilogue: Bringing the Corporate State Under Democratic Control

     Bringing the Corporate State Under Democratic Control. . . . . 440

     Appendix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .446

     Principal Sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479

     Selected Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   555

     Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563