Group Calls for Secretary of Agriculture who will Stand Against JBS Track Record of Destroying Livelihoods, Market Manipulation, and Foreign Control of U.S. Meatpacking
New York, NY (November 15, 2024) – In an open letter to the incoming administration under Donald Trump, Ban the Batistas today urged the President-Elect to protect American farmers, investors, and consumers by blocking the ongoing efforts of meatpacking giant JBS to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and selecting an Agriculture Secretary who will restore the American farming and ranching community.
“You ran and won a campaign centered on uplifting the working class, lowering food and grocery prices, and enacting America-first policies across the board. No action will help fulfill these promises as swiftly as holding Brazilian meatpacking giant JBS accountable for its years of harming American farmers’ and ranchers’ livelihoods, brazenly manipulating the meat market, and whose efforts to list shares on the New York Stock Exchange stand to threaten our financial markets,” the open letter reads.
The letter continues by summarizing the track record of the Brazilian meatpacker and its owners, Joesley and Wesley Batista, which includes adjudicated cases of price fixing, driving higher consumer prices for meat, foreign corruption and bribery, and more.
“As Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. recently stated, the current system is ‘destroying the economic health of farmers by forcing them to get big or get out … Big corporate farms do just fine, while the small and medium family operators are squeezed to the point of collapse.’ Granting JBS access to U.S. capital through their IPO will only further their harm to American agriculture, jeopardize the future of our farmers and ranchers, increase the United States reliance on foreign markets, and put the hardworking American agricultural community, everyday families, and investors at risk. It must be stopped,” the letter concludes.
See the full letter here.
About Ban the Batistas
Ban the Batistas is an advocacy group fighting to protect American farmers, ranchers, consumers, and investors from the risks of a U.S. stock listing by JBS S.A. and the unchecked power grab by its majority shareholders, brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista. Learn more at banthebatistas.com.
Contact:
Katya Myagkova
