Fwd: turkey day

[Peggy Adams <adams@pcei.org>]

I thought some of you might find this interesting, and perhaps a little
surprizing.

Peggy


>---- Begin Included Message ----
>This comes from Al Krebs' Agribusiness Examiner.

>
>A HOLIDAY TRADITION:
>
>THE CORPORATE AGRIBUSINESS RESEARCH PROJECT
>
>THANKSGIVING DAY MEAL
>
>
>In a few short days many of us will once again be sitting down with our
>families to celebrate Thanksgiving. We will all be looking forward with
>mouth-watering anticipation to the bounty that will
be spread before us.  But for most Americans the turkey is not likely to be
from Uncle Ray's
farm, nor the potatoes from Aunt Jean's recipe, nor the dressing from
Grandma's stove, nor the biscuits from Mom's oven, nor the dessert from
Aunt Belle's kitchen.

No, more than likely for most Americans the turkey might well be from
Butterball or maybe a ham from Cook Family Foods;  someone might suggest
that a few Singleton Butterfly Shrimp be
put on the "BarB" before dinner, the grill already hot  from the Just Light
Charcoal Briquets underneath; we might also want some Jack Rabbit Long
Grain Rice; maybe potatoes from Golden Valley Foods, and someone might note
that the flour in the bread is from Peavey Grain.
>
>We also might want to enjoy some of our favorite private label pasta from
>the local supermarket; tomatoes from Hunt's; perhaps a touch of Oriental
>from La Choy; the pudding from Swiss Miss,
or the frozen dairy dessert from Healthy Choice,topped perhaps with some
Reddi Whip; the salad oil from Wesson; the cheese from Miss Wisconsin; the
canned beans from Van Camps; some spices from Armour Dairy, and the tomato
or apple juice cocktail from Mott's.

While watching the traditional Thanksgiving Day football game on television
we might want to dip into the popcorn bowl for some Orville Redenbacher's,
putting another handful on one of our Budget Buy paper plates for future
munching, or we might also want to "partake" of the barley malt in a bottle
of
Carlsberg Beer as we watch the game.
>
All in all it will be quite a day and quite a meal, a testimonial to the
cornucopia of food that most of us now living in America have come to take
for granted in the land of Freedom of Choice and the Home of the Private
Entrepreneur.

>But wait one minute here, let's take a little closer look at that meal.
>True, we saw a wide range of different products that composed this
>Thanksgiving Day feast we so heartily consumed.  Yet, the reality of the
>matter is that all that food, all those products and all those brands came
>in fact from just ONE company --- ConAgra Inc. --- the nation's second
>largest food processor and manufacturer, where six cents out of every
>American food dollar is today spent.
>
>Here is a company that operates "across the food chain" --- from seedling
>to supermarket --- in many different products where it totally dominates
>the market shares and where it reaps enormous
profits at the expense of family farmers, workers and consumers.  "The
fierce entrepreneurial spirit that's long been ConAgra's trademark is alive
and well, and ConAgrans are working together to feed people better and
increase shareholder value. We are a winning team, and we have a solid game
plan for the next phase of our success," ConAgra Inc. Chief Executive Bruce
Rohde recently declared.
"Our past success is remarkable. ConAgra has the best long-term earnings
growth record among all major food companies in the world. Our 19
consecutive years of earnings-per-share growth at an average annual rate of
14.6%, excluding required accounting changes and non-recurring charges, is
unequaled by any major food company."

It is estimated that in the past decade U.S. family farmers have been
receiving a mere 2.39% return on their yearly investment.  In its 1999
Annual Report the company explains that each of the company's 25 branded
foods has annual retail sales exceeding $100 million and its Food Service
branch is the nation's largest provider of products for restaurants,
fast-food outlets and other food service customers.

>So, let's not forget that when we sit down to our modern day Thanksgiving
>Day dinners we are making an increasingly small handful of American and
>international corporate agribusinessmen
exceedingly wealthy.
>

Peggy Adams

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