Rastetter's Ag Summit: a corporate ag celebration

Rastetter’s Ag Summit celebrates corporate control of land and politics at expense of everyday people.

On March 7, Iowa’s self appointed political kingmaker, multi-millionaire Bruce Rastetter, will be hosting GOP presidential hopefuls like Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, and Chris Christie in Des Moines for the “2015 Iowa Ag Summit”. In reality, it will be a Corporate Ag Summit, given Rastetter’s vision of “modern agriculture” and his record of putting profits before people. 

Not only did Bruce Ratsetter found Heartland Pork Enterprises, which was later acquired by Christensen Farms to create the fourth largest factory farm pork producer in the United States, but he led a failed attempt to export that agricultural model to Tanzania that would have displaced 160,000 Burundian refugee farmers.

Rastetter even attempted to use his position on the Board of Regents to get Iowa State University behind this corporate land grab, in large part to advance the profits of his international energy company, Agrisol Energy. We have a history of mobilizing to confront Rastetter’s profit-driven motives while elevating an agenda the puts people before profit, politics, and polluters. 

At his Corporate Ag Summit, Rastetter will use the national stage to tout the wonders of industrial farming and the need for political leaders to embrace the flawed ideology of “feeding the world”. We know that this agricultural model doesn’t benefit everyday people- “feeding the world” is actually about feeding the wallets of corporate agriculture. To us, real food security is about local control of agriculture using methods that sustain the health of soil, water, communities, and rural economies for future generations. This model of agriculture works for all people, and recognizes the dignity of farmers at home and across the globe.

We will use Rastetter’s Ag Summit to elevate our vision and give voice to the concerns of farmers and everyday Iowans. At the same time, we want to make it clear to all 2016 presidential candidates that Iowans don’t support Rastetter’s agenda that puts big money corporations in the driver’s seat. 

National media outlets will descend upon Iowa for Rastetter’s event- we will be there in force to counter his corporatized and industrialized prescription for farming and the environment with our People and Planet First agenda that puts people, our land, our way of life, and the environment before corporate greed. 

To elevate this agenda, we will bring in speakers from across the country to talk about a food and agriculture system that works for people, and about democratic control over how our food is produced. Anuradha Mittal of the Oakland Institute and Patty Lovera of Food and Water Watch are already committed to joining us, and we are working on getting other big names from Iowa and beyond. And not only are we bringing in big name speakers, but we want to bring in folks from across the state to talk about their experiences growing food and sustaining our land here in Iowa.