Tester Talks Agriculture Consolidation and Farm Bill at Montana Farmers Union Annual Convention

After his remarks, Senator took questions from the audience

U.S. Senator Jon Tester last week spoke to members of the Montana Farmers Union at their 107^th annual convention in Helena. In his remarks, Tester commended the resilience of Montana producers in the face of extreme weather events, emphasized the importance of passing his bipartisan bills to return competition to agricultural markets, and discussed the need to hear from Montana’s producers before drafting the 2023 Farm Bill. Following his remarks, Tester took questions from the audience.

“The work that the Farmers Union is doing to fight for fairness and competition is invaluable,” Tester said. “I’m taking our fight to Washington, and I’m going to keep working to get my Meat Packing Special Investigator Act and Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act across the finish line because capitalism only works when there’s transparency and competition in the marketplace.”

Tester also thanked the Farmers Union members for their work.

“Remember that the work you do day in and day out is the key to combatting food insecurity in this country. I appreciate your efforts, and value your partnership as we work together to support our family farms – the backbone of Montana’s production economy.”

As the Senate’s only working farmer, Tester has long been Montana’s leading champion for family farmers and ranchers. His two bipartisan anti-consolidation bills – the Meat Packing Special Investigator Act and the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act passed the Senate Agriculture Committee in June after acontinued push by the Senator. 

Earlier this year, Tester introduced his Agriculture Right to Repair Act to finally guarantee farmers the right to repair their own equipment and end current restrictions on the repair market. Last year, he introduced his bipartisan American Beef Labeling Act, which would ensure that only beef raised in the United States is labeled as a product of the USA, and his bipartisan New Markets for State-Inspected Meat and Poultry Act, which would allow meat and poultry products inspected by Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) approved state Meat and Poultry Inspection (MPI) programs to be sold across state lines.