Agriculture of America Radio Show: Dissecting the EATS Act (H.R.4417/S.2019) with guest, Marty Irby, President of Competitive Markets Action
August 28, 2023: The Agriculture of America radio show, hosted by Jesse Allen, featured a discussion on the EATS Act (H.R.4417/S.2019) from one of the legislation's opponents; Competitive Markets Action (CMA). CMA President and CEO, Marty Irby, provides a clear and thorough explanation of the bill and why the legislation is a looming threat for American famers and ranchers, states’ rights, and consumers nationwide.
Excerpt from the interview:
Jesse Allen: Well, let's talk about the EATS Act first and can you just for folks who maybe they've heard the term, they haven't really dove into what exactly this legislation is. Can you just give us a brief overview of what exactly the EATS Act is, Marty?
Marty Irby: The name of the bill is the Ending Agriculture Trade Suppression, what “EATS” stands for. It’s H.R.4417 in the House and S.2019 in the Senate, led by Congresswoman Ashley Hinson from Iowa and Senator Roger Marshall from Kansas. It’s a revamped version of what former Congressman Steve King from Iowa led. It's a measure that would nullify state level and local level laws and ordinances related to agriculture and animal welfare. And then it also goes far more beyond that. It's very expansive, which is one of the major problems with it. So we're fighting to prevent this from getting into Farm Bill.
I led a campaign back in 2018 to defeat the King amendment and had some folks who were very interested in working on EATS with Competitive Markets Action, Organization for Competitive Markets, and a broader coalition of folks who we’re working with. I really believe that this bill is a terrible threat to states’ rights.
We could talk about the policy as it relates to poor confinement and animal welfare. And that is one aspect of this. But the broader theme is really that this goes so far and so overreaching that it would even potentially nullify the state law in Kentucky that makes Kentucky Bourbon “bourbon”. So when you think about things like that, along with other agriculture issues in the dairy, poultry, beef and pork industry, it's a serious threat to independent family farmers who had to go out there and create new markets to be able to compete with industrial agriculture and a lot of folks in the organic space as well.
Marty Irby is the President and CEO of Capitol South, LLC, a Washington, D.C. based lobbying and public relations firm. He is also President and CEO of Competitive Markets Action and serves as a volunteer Director and board Secretary at the Organization for Competitive Markets. Named one of The Hill’s Top Lobbyists for 2019, 2020, and 2021, Irby also worked in the United States House of Representatives for Congressman Ed Whitfield (R-KY) serving as Press Secretary, then Communications Director and Policy Advisor.
Agriculture of America is a nationally syndicated agriculture talk show hosted by veteran farm broadcaster Jesse Allen. Born and raised in a small North Central Iowa farming community, Jesse Allen has grown up around agriculture in rural America. Having received numerous state and national awards for his coverage, Allen continues to bring a passion and love of telling agriculture’s story on a daily basis to the radio, podcasts and more.