Family Farm Defenders Protest at Chicago Mercantile Exchange
On April 18, 2019, in honor of the International Day of Peasant Struggle, the Family Farm Defenders (a member of La Via Campesina), the Friends of the MST and other allies protested at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). The CME is the private agency that trades in soy, cheese, hogs, animal feed and lumber, among other commodities. The CME sets the prices for the commodities that are traded on the exchange that has resulted in price fixing – according to a 2014 lawsuit brought by the Dairy Farmers of America. This is all occurring at a time when a record number of family farms are going out of business due to depressed prices for farm products – over 500 dairy farmers went out of business in Wisconsin in 2018. Meanwhile, mega-agribusiness corporations and cooperatives are still very profitable. See the attached information sheet on the CME.
The protest also delivered a letter to the Illinois Attorney General’s office in the State of Illinois building in Chicago. The letter requests the Attorney General to investigate price fixing and other unfair trade practices in the dairy industry. A copy of the letter is attached.