Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), a current 2020 election democratic candidate, proposed new legislation to “revitalize independent family farm agriculture and ensure a level playing field for all farmers and ranchers.”
The Farm System Reform Act of 2019 aims to strengthen the Packers and Stockyards Act by cutting down multi-national meatpacker monopolies, placing a moratorium on concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), and restoring mandatory country-of-origin labeling requirements (mCOOL).
“Large factory farms are harmful to rural communities, public health, and the environment and we must immediately begin to transition to a more sustainable and humane system,” Booker said in an official statement.
The statement continues, saying that CAFOs produce “enormous amounts of animal waste and harmful pollution” and “threaten the economic prosperity of family farms.”
The bill would phase out the largest CAFOs by 2040, prohibit “unfair tournament or ranking systems for paying contract growers,” reinstate mCOOL and prohibit labeling foreign imported meat products as “Product of USA.”
