WEATHER ALERT

Warren proposes breaking up Big Ag

By: Alexandra Jaffe, The Associated Press Posted: Last Modified:

Advertisement

Advertise with us

DES MOINES, Iowa - Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling for the breakup of what she says are unfair farming monopolies.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/03/2019 (2679 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling for the breakup of what she says are unfair farming monopolies.

Warren says family farms struggle because “bad decisions in Washington have consistently favoured the interests of multinational corporations and big business lobbyists over the interests of family farmers.”

If elected president, the Democratic lawmaker says she’d appoint regulators to review and reverse some mergers among farming corporations. She singled out Bayer-Monsanto as a merger that “should never have been approved.”

FILE - In this March 1, 2019, file photo, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks to local residents during an organizing event in Dubuque, Iowa. Warren is everywhere in the first three months of her presidential campaign: 11 states as of Tuesday. But where she's not is at the top of early 2020 polls. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
FILE - In this March 1, 2019, file photo, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks to local residents during an organizing event in Dubuque, Iowa. Warren is everywhere in the first three months of her presidential campaign: 11 states as of Tuesday. But where she's not is at the top of early 2020 polls. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

Warren also proposes breaking up “vertically-integrated” agribusinesses — those, like Tyson, that control multiple levels of production and processing of a product.

The policy proposals come just days before Warren will appear at a presidential forum hosted by the Iowa Farmer’s Union.

She also has called for the breakup of mammoth technology firms.

Advertisement Advertise With Us

Report Error Submit a Tip

Advertisement

Learn more about Winnipeg Free Press Advertising solutions

More Stories

Laura Rance-Unger This tractor and grain cart have no driver. The unit is operated remotely and is called to the combine when it is time to unload the hopper.

Automation reaches new heights on farm

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Preview

Automation reaches new heights on farm

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Saturday, Jul. 25, 2026

LANGHAM, Sask. — The thousands of farmers from across the Prairies who flock to the annual Ag in Motion show every July seem oblivious to the possibility the technology on display could one day replace many of them.

Families with children in tow, Hutterite colony workers, grandparents and young couples just starting out roamed through the 600 or more exhibitor displays, amazed at how everything about farming just keeps getting bigger, more efficient and increasingly more automated.

It’s now possible to seed using a 100-foot-wide drill — a 12-foot jump over the widest available a few years ago — provided the farmer can afford a tractor with enough horsepower to pull it. Those sell for around $850,000 and up.

Granted, the number of farms with enough acres to justify that kind of width and drawing power is still relatively small, but farms continue to grow. And it’s no secret the number of people who have the interest, skills and financial wherewithal to run them continues to shrink.

Read
Saturday, Jul. 25, 2026
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Little People’s Place child care centre in Windsor Park expelled a pre-schooler last month in response to a pattern of escalating behaviour that was putting others at risk. The family has appealed to have the five-year-old reinstated.

Daycare grapples with five-year-old’s outbursts, choking incidents

Maggie Macintosh 4 minute read Preview

Daycare grapples with five-year-old’s outbursts, choking incidents

Maggie Macintosh 4 minute read Friday, Jul. 24, 2026

A Windsor Park child-care facility is weighing a five-year-old’s right to care versus the safety of other children who have been choked.

Little People’s Place expelled a pre-schooler in the spring in response to his aggressive behaviour toward other children and staff.

The child’s family has appealed to the province for him to be reinstated.

The case is raising concerns about inclusion support resources and measures to protect everyone at the Cottonwood Road daycare.

Read
Friday, Jul. 24, 2026
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS The vandalism of a tipi pole did not dampen participants and visitors from celebrating Treaty One Development Corp’s Anishinaabe Days on Sunday.

Anishinaabe Days teepee poles vandalized

Nicole Buffie 4 minute read Preview

Anishinaabe Days teepee poles vandalized

Nicole Buffie 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 8:16 PM CDT

An act of vandalism to a teepee at the Treaty One Development Corp’s Anishinaabe Days did not stop the celebrations from continuing over the weekend.

Someone deliberately cut the poles used to erect the site’s teepee before the event began, Treaty One executive director Jason Whitford said Sunday.

The family responsible for overseeing the teepee and its construction at the site, Naawi-Oodena  on Kenaston Boulevard, went to the site on Friday to erect the teepee when they noticed someone had taken a saw and cut all 15 of its poles in half.

“They were stored in a safe place, and they were stored properly as per protocol,” Whitford said. “They were in an area where there was no construction so they were isolated from any activity.”

Read
Updated: Yesterday at 8:16 PM CDT
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Manitoba Hydro president and CEO Allan Danroth spoke for 25 minutes on the first day of hearings into Hydro’s proposal for natural gas-powered turbines in Brandon.

‘Eight credible threats’ against Hydro employees: CEO

Chris Kitching 5 minute read Preview

‘Eight credible threats’ against Hydro employees: CEO

Chris Kitching 5 minute read 12:41 PM CDT

Manitoba Hydro president and CEO Allan Danroth took aim at critics and revealed that he and staff members have been threatened while defending the Crown corporation’s plan for three new combustion turbines Monday.

Danroth said “constant, uninformed criticism” of Hydro and misinformation from some people have eroded the public’s trust and contributed to hostilities and an unsafe workplace for employees.

“Manitoba Hydro is currently managing eight credible threats against our employees, five of them directed at me personally,” Danroth told a Public Utilities Board hearing in Winnipeg.

“More troubling is that these threats are increasingly affecting our front-line workforce. In the last year, my employees have been threatened with weapons, including guns, while performing their duties, and in one recent incident a homeowner directed his dogs to attack one of our meter readers.”

Read
12:41 PM CDT

What are we teaching children at the rodeo?

Danae Tonge 5 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

Every summer in Manitoba, rodeo season brings thousands of children to local rodeos and the Manitoba Stampede. They arrive with cowboy hats and cotton candy in hand, excitement in their eyes.

Yet, as a mother who works in education, I can’t help but wonder: what are we teaching them in those stands?

Inside classrooms, we teach children that kindness matters. We encourage empathy, discourage bullying and ask students to consider how their actions affect others. Students are taught that animals experience fear, pain and distress, just like us. Yet when school ends, we celebrate events built around chasing, restraining, roping and riding animals for entertainment.

This contradiction is difficult to ignore.

JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS Quarterback Dru Brown gets sacked by Stampeders’ Clarence Hicks during the second half of CFL football action at Princess Auto Stadium.

Bombers’ offence, defence, and special teams fail to show up against Stampeders

Taylor Allen 6 minute read Preview

Bombers’ offence, defence, and special teams fail to show up against Stampeders

Taylor Allen 6 minute read Saturday, Jul. 25, 2026

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers constantly preach the importance of playing three-phase football.

On Friday night, they went 0-for-3.

Their offence, defence, and special teams all played a significant role in losing 52-30 to the visiting Calgary Stampeders.

The team that erased a 17-point deficit to beat Ottawa last Sunday was nowhere to be found.

Read
Saturday, Jul. 25, 2026