The U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance is an alliance of agriculture related interest groups and organizations that promote industrial agriculture in the United States. Their aim is to promote a positive image of modern agricultural practices. They are supported by checkoff funds from the United States Department of Agriculture and by cooperate donations. The alliance has been criticized for a bias towards corporate agricultural practices. Origin and aims The alliance was created in October 2010 as a coalition of many of the United States largest agricultural groups (e.g., National Corn Growers Association and National Pork Producers Council) to counter publicity that the alliance believed was not in the best interest of agriculture. The alliance has been concerned with the release of videos showing the mistreatment of pigs, chickens put into battery cages to lay eggs, chicks tossed into meat grinders, close confinement of livestock, and the use of hormones and antibiotics in feed. They are also concerned with negative publicity crop farmers have received from organizations opposed to biotech crops and the overuse of pesticides and fertilizers. Their view is that a utopian world without genetically modified food, pesticides, and fertilizers is not feasible if the goal is to feed the world. The alliance's aim is to show the food consumer that a less than perfect world is reasonable. They believe that the vast majority of people who do not live in rural areas of America are misinformed about how food is produced. On their view, non-rural people have been misled into believing that all pesticide, fertilizer, and antibiotic uses in agriculture are harmful; their aim is to show the consumer that this is not true. Management In 2011, its annual budget of $11,000,000 came in large part from marketing fees or checkoffs from the United States Department of Agriculture. These mandatory fees are paid by farmers after they sell their products. In June 2018 Erin Fitzgerald was named CEO of the alliance, taking over from Randy Krotz. Krotz had been hired as the alliance's first CEO in 2014. The Chairman of the alliance's Board of Directors is Charles Bowling, former president of the National Corn Growers Association. Prior to Bowling the Chairman had been Brad Greenway. Activities Checkoff funds from the United States Department of Agriculture cannot be used to lobby government. In 2010, the USDA ruled that the alliance could only use checkoff funds for specific projects and