Editor's Note: (A version of this commentary originally published in April. W. Kamau Bell is a sociopolitical comedian and author who hosts and executive produces the CNN Original Series "United Shades of America," airing Sundays at 10 p.m. ET. The views expressed here are his. Read more opinion on CNN. )
(CNN) I first met Scott Blubaugh, the president of the Oklahoma Farmers Union, last year when I was filming an episode on family farms for "United Shades of America."
There's a lot of talk in this country of farmers as the backbone of America, and we were trying to separate the facts from the pickup truck commercial.
Scott and his family own the Blubaugh Angus Ranch in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, a town of just over 3,000 people. While cattle is their primary business, they also grow several crops, including wheat and soybeans. The farm has been in Scott's family for six generations; it is the classic tale of an American farm passed down from father to son again, and again, and way more agains.
In fact, his son Zane is preparing to take it over. But currently, it's in Scott's hands. Every early frost; every drop in price for his crops; every politician's promise that doesn't deliver; every stud bull that doesn't want to stud ... it's all on him. Scott has the easy manner of a person who has the weight of the world on his shoulders but wouldn't have it any other way.
There's another classic part of this story -- but it's one that Americans don't like to discuss as much. We often like to think of farming as a local enterprise, but as Scott explained to me, it is really an international business. And worse, he said, the farmers who grow the commodities used to make the food we eat don't set their own prices for what they grow. This allows the processors and the corporate farms to maximize their profits, while independent family farms like Scott's struggle.
On a normal day, that would be an interesting story to tell. But we all know that because of Covid-19, for the foreseeable future, "normal days" are behind us. And the issues farmers face during this pandemic put a huge spotlight on what is wrong with the way our country handles food production and distribution.
I wanted to know how these issues were affecting farmers like Scott, so I checked in with him via a (Zoom) video call.
The following Q&A has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
W. Kamau Bell: Before we get started Scott, just how are you doing?
Scott: We're doing fine. Our health in our family has been good. We're quarantined like everybody else around the country, but it's a little different because we still get out to feed the cows, birth the calves, plant the crops, and do everything. It's just you don't see anybody else. It's kind of a lonely time right now for us.
WKB: When I was with you, you educated me to the idea that you're not really creating food, you're creating commodities.
Scott: We have plenty of cattle, pigs, chickens, wheat, corn, soybeans. The problem that we're seeing right now is the food processing industry has consolidated at a tremendous rate over the last 40 years.
So while we have plenty of commodities out here on the farm, when the processors' workers get sick and they're not able to come to work, we're seeing these plants close down that process the food. Then you can't get the shelves restocked.
The virus has really exposed the flaws of our food system, and how vulnerable it is. We're at a very critical situation. I've been saying for years, Congress needs to step in and regulate these huge, multinational processors. We have just ignored all of our antitrust laws for many, many years, allowed all of this consolidation and mergers to happen, and even foreign ownership now.
The government's just let this happen over a long period of time. We need to break up the monopoly of the processing, and go back to a more regional-style or local-style of processing. That way, when you do have a problem, sick workers or any type of an issue, you don't shut the whole nation's food system down. It's just a small piece of it, and then you can plug in others.
But the way our system's set up today, we are very vulnerable for any type of thing like this that would put a rock in the cogs.
On our big grain elevator here, it says, "The wheat heart of Tonkawa, Oklahoma." This is kind of the bread basket of the country; there's plenty of wheat in those grain storage elevators.
But you have to get it processed, you have to get it made into bread, and you have to get it onto the supermarket shelves.
And that's the problem right now with sick workers -- processors aren't able to keep these plants open, or they're running at a lesser capacity.
WKB: We think of a family farm as, 'A farmer grows carrots, and then they take their carrots to the supermarket, and the supermarket sells them.' Most of us aren't thinking about a food processing plant -- and how that company treats its workers and the farmers they're working with -- as being the key part that really affects our ability to get food.
Scott: It really does. The other thing that we're seeing that's going to have long-term implications [is] we're seeing the price of cattle absolutely crater. The value of our cattle went down over 35% just since the virus hit.
They were already not very good prices to start with, and now they've declined. I get calls every single day from ranchers in our state who tell me they're losing $300 to $400 a head on every [cow] that they sell right now. And at the end of the day, they're $300 or $400 a head short, and owe the banks money. It's a terrible situation.
Our farmers-ranchers are losing money like crazy, and at the very same time, the processors are making absolutely windfall profits. And when they're making $500, $600 a head on every one that they process, and the rancher loses $300 or $400 a head on every one that he sells to them, the system is broke. So the consumer is paying more money, as you well know -- go to the store, you're paying a lot more money for your beef there at the supermarket. But as ranchers, we're receiving the lowest we've ever received for it.
I've written letters to Secretary [of Agriculture] Perdue, President Trump, I've talked to many United States senators, many United States congressmen. We're doing everything we can to get their attention, to put some rules in place and enforce our antitrust laws. I've asked the Justice Department if they would investigate this price manipulation that's going on and these antitrust issues that are going on.
And so we're hopeful that the public will rise up and will demand these investigations by the Justice Department as well. We've got to put rules back in place that prohibit this type of bad behavior from a few foreign corporations.
WKB: One thing you said that's so prescient now is that food is a national security issue.
Scott: If you can't feed your own people, you can't feed your own armies, it's a huge national security issue, and I think we're seeing that today. It's just an absolute breakdown of the whole food system, and it's scary.
We have workers who are getting sick and dying to do our processing work for us. I mean, they're really heroes, just right along with our medical professionals, because they're out working in really tough conditions where these viruses spread very easily, because they're working very close to each other, almost elbow-to-elbow in these plants.
They're paid a barely livable wage, and they live under poor conditions. Mostly, we're talking about a lot of immigrant workers; they're not paid very well, and they're sure not paid enough to take the risk that they're having to take.
WKB: Are there farmers you think who aren't going to recover from this?
Scott: I'm really, really worried about a lot of my beef farmers, my cattle ranchers. They're calling me every day, and we're doing everything we can to help. But when you're losing that much money per head -- and the bigger you are, the more [cattle] you have -- your losses are astronomical. I think we're going to lose a lot of our ranches in the country in the next six months.
WKB: One of the main things I appreciate about you is when you speak about this, it isn't about political acts; it's about helping the farmer. No matter what political party a farmer's in, you're all pulling in the same direction to try to provide for your family and provide the best product that you can.
Scott: Oh, absolutely. I work on both sides of the aisle and with both parties to try to do the right thing and benefit the consumer and our farmers and ranchers, so they can make a living and stay on the land out here.
WKB: If you could fix it so that when we came out of this it would be a sustainable system, and a system where people doing the work could thrive and not just merely survive, how would you fix all this?
Scott: Simple: Start enforcing antitrust laws that we used to have on the books. We put them in place around the turn of the century. Theodore Roosevelt, he put them in place, he busted up these monopolies. We need to bust them up again and have regional and local processors process the food. We need to get away from this huge corporate control and international corporations controlling our food system.
If we could do that, the American farmer-rancher ... can produce plenty of food and great quality food for the consumer. But we can't do it with our hands tied behind our back, fighting these international companies that are processing. We're in a fight for, really, our future as independent farmers and ranchers right now.
WKB: I think the sooner the rest of America knows we're in the fight with you and we don't wait until it gets to our doorstep, the better we all are.