It's going to be interesting if Congress would subpoena the IBP data that Taylor has and presents it to GAO economists for a study of GIPSA.
The 11th Circuit opinion is full of factual errors, indicative of the quality of the decision.
For example,"By contrast, the cash market provides Tyson with
no leeway about the delivery date, because cattle purchased on it are always delivered seven days after purchase. On the cash market there is a greater risk thatTyson's buyers will purchase too little cattle for its needs, or too much for itsplants to process within the constrictions of the delivery dates."
(false)
Or this one,
On the cash market, the best Tyson can do is have its buyers attempt to purchase pens that appear to have the highest number of high-yield cattle. But that is an inexact science.
(ignores the existence of cash grid)
or this one,
the cash market does not provide incentives for quality and yield.
or this one,
Marketing agreements make the inventory crunch much less crunchy for Tyson. They are negotiated two weeks in advance of delivery of the cattle, and Tyson picks the exact date of delivery within that two-week period.
(inaccurate, seller chooses week, buyer chooses what day of the week[usually])
or this one,
Jerry Hausman, an economics professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, testified that "what marketing agreements do is it helps [Tyson] to better schedule its plants. And by cutting down the variability, they're going to get greater capacity utilization and higher profits."
(captive supplies are actually 2.8 times more variable than cash cattle)(oh yes, don't forget this Hausman is the guy who said fat cattle have to be shipped in padded trucks)(This is the guy the jury thought was nuts as indicated by their facial expressions when he testified.)
or this one,
Tyson's final competitive justification for using marketing agreements is
that they allow the company to pay for each head of cattle in a pen individually based on the quality of the meat, rather than paying for the entire pen "on the average."
(can be done on the cash market, too)
So I'll say again, the 11th Circuit opinion is full of factual errors, indicative of the quality of the decision.