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Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

2105 First Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55404
Phone 612-870-0453 | Fax 612-870-4846 | Email iatp@iatp.org

Connections

American Corn Growers Association The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and the American Corn Growers Association (ACGA) are both institutional sponsors of the anti-technology website CropChoice.com. The groups have joined forces on at least two occasions to endorse legal petitions brought by the organic marketer-funded Center for Food Safety against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Both IATP and ACGA are also members of the “Bolinas group,” a conglomeration of environmental and other anti-consumer groups that pool their resources in order to try and force the government’s hand on the labeling issue. Bolinas group members also have access to millions in funding via members of the Environmental Grantmakers Association.

Center for Food Safety IATP president Mark Ritchie is a member of the Center for Food Safety’s advisory board. Both groups are part of the Genetically Engineered Food Alert, a food-scare effort designed by anti-business Washington PR guru David Fenton.

Center for Science in the Public Interest The Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy are both members of the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), a coalition of U.S. and E.U. “consumer groups” that also includes Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen and the US Public Interest Research Group. TACD’s mission is to inject radical points of view into the international debate on “issues such as GM foods, growth hormones, the precautionary principle, consumer protection in e-commerce, data privacy protection, fair trade and eco-labelling, access to medicines, and so on.” Both CSPI and IATP are also members of the fear-mongering Keep Antibiotics Working coalition, which aims to needlessly scare the public about the responsible use of antibiotics for farm animals.

Environmental Media Services Aside from Environmental Media Services, perhaps the most notable anti-biotech creation to come out of Washington, DC public relations firm Fenton Communications is something called the “GE Food Alert.” This is a Fenton-created coalition of 7 different nonprofit groups including (among others) the Center for Food Safety, Organic Consumers Association, and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP). The project is designed to be a clearinghouse for all sorts of protest “actions” against genetically improved foods, and for the junk science that both inspires them and benefits David Fenton’s clients. The entire effort is hosted on Internet web servers that are registered to IATP in Minneapolis.

Foundation on Economic Trends The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) has signed up for many of the Foundation on Economic Trends' coalition-building ventures. It was a supporting organization in the Beyond Beef Campaign, and it co-sponsored the Treaty Initiative to Share the Genetic Commons. FOET president Jeremy Rifkin and IATP both signed on to Genetically Engineered Food Alert's "Call to Action" and the Pacific Declaration.

Humane Society of the United States The Humane Society of the United States and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy belong to the Keep Antibiotics Working coalition, which hopes to prevent farmers from administering antibiotics to their livestock. They are also both members of the Global Safe Food Alliance, an organization run by Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen. And they both signed onto New York Times issue advertisements coordinated by the anti-technology Turning Point Project.

Institute for Social Ecology The Institute for Social Ecology’s “NorthEast RAGE” project (particularly its chief rabble-rouser Brian Tokar) have been principally responsible for organizing the annual “biodevastation” protest events, including the 2001 event in San Diego and the 1999 anti-biotech protest in Seattle. At both of these events, officers from IATP answered questions at press events alongside Tokar. In Seattle, IATP’s Mark Ritchie and Brian Tokar appeared together on at least two occasions, and Ritchie’s Internet mailing lists (hosted at IATP) kept like-minded activists informed about the mayhem that ensued.

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Established with money from an Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement’s funder (the New York-based Unitarian Universalist Veatch program), the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy has been a long-time supporter of ICCI’s radical agenda. David Wallinga, IATP’s “Food Safety Specialist,” spoke at ICCI’s annual convention in 2005, railing against the use of antibiotics to keep livestock healthy.

Northern Plains Resource Council When the Northern Plains Resource Council held its 1999 annual meeting in Montana, the keynote speaker was Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy president Mark Ritchie. According to the Associated Press, Ritchie told the assembled farmer-activists that the battle against genetically improved food crops was already won. "Should farmers buy or plant GMO grains?" Ritchie asked, rhetorically. "The simple answer is no... This is not about feeding the world."

Organic Consumers Association Ben Lilliston, IATP’s director of communications, co-authored an anti-biotech book with Organic Consumers Association chief Ronnie Cummins (titled Genetically Engineered Food: A Self-Defense Guide for Consumers). In addition Mike Iba, who runs Japan’s Network for Safe and Secure Food & Environment, sits on IATP’s Board of Directors as well as on the Organic Consumers Association’s policy board. Both the Organic Consumers Association and IATP are active members of the Global Safe Food Alliance, a coalition of tax-exempt animal-welfare, anti-corporate-farming, and sustainable-agriculture groups organized by Public Citizen.

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Both IATP and PCRM are active members of the Global Safe Food Alliance, a coalition of tax-exempt animal-welfare, anti-corporate-farming, and sustainable-agriculture groups organized by Public Citizen.

Sierra Club In 2002, the Sierra Club and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy cooperated on a study, designed to cultivate unwarranted fear about antibiotics used by livestock farmers, claiming (without anything resembling good science) that Minneapolis and Des Moines consumers were "at risk" from "bacteria on poultry." Both groups are members of the scaremongering "Keep Antibiotics Working" coalition, a PR campaign that needlessly frightens Americans away from conventional beef, pork, and poultry with wrong-headed claims about livestock antibiotics. The Sierra Club Midwest and Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy are also members of the "National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture," which rails against today's modern farms.

Tides Foundation & Tides Center The Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy (IATP) has received over $320,000 in Tides Foundation grants since its incorporation. And this isn’t the least bit surprising, considering that IATP leader Mark Ritchie is listed on the Tides Center’s founding documents as its “registered agent” for Minnesota. Tides has also poured at least $20,000 into Ritchie’s for-profit “sustainable” coffee venture, Headwaters Inc., which sells its products under the name Peace Coffee. Headwaters operates out of Ritchie’s nonprofit Minnesota offices, and IATP promotes the environmental concept behind Headwaters’ products; this clear conflict of interest has so far escaped the notice of IRS investigators.

Turning Point Project Both IATP and the Consumer’s Choice Council (an IATP front group) were among the Turning Point Project’s “coalition” groups.

Union of Concerned Scientists The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy has worked with the Union of Concerned Scientists on many occasions, including an attempt to force Bayer to withdraw its antibiotic Baytril from the market, and a series of FDA petitions demanding more severe review processes for genetically enhanced foods.

United Poultry Concerns Both the Organic Consumers Association and United Poultry Concerns are active members of the Global Safe Food Alliance, a coalition of tax-exempt animal-welfare, anti-corporate-farming, and sustainable-agriculture groups organized by Public Citizen.

Waterkeeper Alliance The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and the Waterkeeper Alliance are both active members of the Keep Anbitiotics Working coalition, a Washington-based PR campaign whose chief product is unwarranted public fear about the responsible use of antibiotics by livestock farmers.

Western Organization of Resource Councils The Western Organization of Resource Councils and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy are both charter members of the Global Safe Food Alliance, an animal-rights front group set up to push the notion that nationwide, “grass roots” support exists for a wholesale overhaul in the way farm animals are raised for food. The coalition also tries to connect food safety with “humane” farm animal treatment in the public consciousness. Predictably, its proposals would dramatically increase the final cost of all sorts of food, including beef, poultry, pork, eggs, milk, and other dairy products. Other members include the Organic Consumer Association, the Humane Farming Association, the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, the Organic Consumers Association, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Public Citizen and the Global Resource Action Center for the Environment.

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