An intense conflict is being waged in Congress. At stake is the security of U.S. consumers’ meat supply. This security is dependent on the structure of our production system. A system where control is distributed among hundreds of thousands of independent livestock producers, geographically dispersed across the United States, inherently is more secure than a system concentrated in a few geographic locations and controlled by only a few large multinational meatpackers.
Our meat supply, inherently secured by a widely dispersed production structure, is now in jeopardy. By the 1990s, our poultry industry, once characterized by tens of thousands of independent businesses, was reduced to about 50 integrated firms. U.S. hog operations, which numbered 667,000 just 25 years ago, were reduced 90 percent to only 67,000 operations by 2005. Our sheep operations during the same period fell nearly 50 percent, with only 68,000 remaining by 2005.
Livestock production is now nearly completely controlled by only a handful of meatpackers that have virtually decimated the widely dispersed, family-farm structure of U.S. livestock production – with one notable exception. While the number of cattle operations shrunk nearly 40 percent from 1980 to 2005, which hollowed out rural communities all across America, the cattle industry remains the last frontier that large meatpackers hope to dominate – it is the only major livestock sector not already corporately controlled from birth to plate! With about 900,000 cattle operations remaining, independent cattle producers still have the critical mass necessary to maintain a viable industry – provided Congress takes steps to restore their industry’s competitiveness.
Farmers and ranchers that raise and feed cattle are reaching out to consumers and Congress for help to overcome the large meatpackers’ efforts to capture control over the entire cattle industry. Meatpackers are employing the same anti-competitive practices to take control over the cattle industry as they used to decimate the independent structure of the other livestock industries: restrictions on market access that lead to price control and manipulation – anti-competitive practices that disrupt the free-market system.
Congress now realizes that America has been harmed by the alarming contraction of its livestock industries, causing the security of our meat supply to be more vulnerable today than ever. In the 2007 Farm Bill, Congress is attempting to prohibit the largest meatpackers from owning and feeding cattle prior to slaughter. This measure would prevent the largest meatpackers from competing against cattle producers while simultaneously acting as the only buyer for cattle producers’ slaughter-ready cattle. This anti-competitive practice enables meatpackers to manipulate prices paid to all independent cattle producers. They restrict producer access to their plants by refusing to buy cattle from cattle producers and, instead, fill their plant capacity needs with millions of their own cattle. This drives producers’ cattle prices downward, rendering their independent businesses unprofitable.
The large meatpackers are formidable adversaries highly skilled at pulling the wool over consumers’ eyes. They erroneously suggest that Congress’ measure would eliminate beneficial marketing agreements, despite the measure’s protection of such agreements when producers maintain ownership of, and participate in, the production of livestock. The multinational meatpackers are attempting to enlist consumers’ help to derail congressional efforts to prohibit their anti-competitive practices, and are disguising their true intention to capture control over the U.S. cattle industry by waving an altruistic banner, claiming that such control is justified by the consumers’ desire for a consistent quality product. Empirical evidence, however, shows just how disingenuous they are.
Although poll after poll shows that consumers overwhelmingly want a label informing them of the country-of-origin of their meat purchases, these meatpackers are fighting to prevent consumers from having this information. Although polls show that consumers support voluntary testing for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), these meatpackers are fighting to prevent consumers from benefiting from voluntary testing. Although both cattle groups and consumer groups requested that the Canadian border remain closed to older Canadian cattle and beef that are at higher risk for BSE, these meatpackers are fighting to expose consumers to a greater risk of this disease.
Congress and consumers must not fall for the multinational meatpackers’ attempts of deception. The meatpackers are not fighting for the best interests of consumers. Instead, they are fighting for their own self-interests: more power, more control, and more money. Working together, cattle producers and consumers can protect the security of our meat supply by supporting Congress’ efforts to prohibit meatpacker ownership of livestock, thus helping to restore the competitiveness of the U.S. cattle industry.
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And what side of the fence is NCBA on?