Chuck Grassley: “Maybe my own personal experiences in the way of family farming compound this problem. I will just get to the issue and…”

“Maybe my own personal experiences in the way of family farming compound this problem. I will just get to the issue and leave the personal experiences I have had out of this issue. In the year 2001, there are farmers who are in the same situation of wanting to market the same way I did the years I had livestock, from 1959 to 1974, and again from 1984 to about 1987, even since I have been in the Senate. We have a situation where you can't deliver whenever you want to deliver. You become a residual supplier. This is a problem Senator Feingold is trying to correct. I hope I can help him. Many packers have arbitration clauses in their contracts with farmers. Arbitration clauses significantly reduce the small family farmer's ability to get a fair shot when a dispute with packers arises, such as misweighing of animals, bad feed cases, or wrongful termination of contracts. When a dispute between a packer and a family farmer arises and the contract between the two includes an arbitration clause, the family farmer has no alternative but to accept arbitration to resolve the dispute. I certainly recognize that arbitration has its benefits.”