U.S. Senators Mike Rounds, Jon Tester, and Chuck Grassley reintroduced the Meat Packing Special Investigator Act to fight consolidation and enforce the nation’s antitrust laws.
“Anticompetitive behavior in the meat packing industry hurts both consumers and producers,” Rounds said in a news release. “Unfortunately, packer concentration in the beef industry is more consolidated today than it was when the Packers and Stockyards Act was first signed into law over 100 years ago. For years, the gap has widened between the price paid to cattle producers for their high-quality American products and the price of beef at the grocery store.”
This legislation would create the “Office of the Special Investigator for Competition Matters” within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which would be composed of a team of investigators, with subpoena power, responsible for targeting and preventing anticompetitive practices among large players in the meat and poultry industries.
Rounds indicates that the four largest beef packing plants control 85 percent of the beef processing capacity while maintaining profits, writing, “This has resulted in an average of nearly 17,000 cattle ranchers going out of business each year since 1980. This bipartisan legislation seeks to address these anticompetitive practices that threaten the nation’s food supply and run family ranches out of business.”
“Folks in Washington don’t understand that the deck is stacked against Montana’s cattle producers,” said Tester. “As the Senate’s only working farmer, I’ll take on anyone to make sure that Montana’s family farmers and ranchers get a fair chance to compete in the marketplace. For too long, massive multi-national conglomerates have run the tables on our producers — who produce the best beef in the world –and our bipartisan bill will give them the chance to compete on a level playing field.”
“Increased consolidation and anticompetitive tactics by meat packers continues to create unfair markets for meat producers and consumers alike,” said Grassley. “In the last few years, we’ve seen settlement after settlement from major packers accused of distorting the market. It’s time we beef up tools to protect farm families and folks at the meat counter. This bill provides USDA with the necessary tools to strengthen enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act, increase coordination with DOJ, FTC, and DHS and to foster a fair and functional marketplace for everyone who grows, produces, and enjoys quality American meat.”
The bill was introduced in June of last year as part of the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act, and met with opposition from various lawmakers and farm groups who criticized the bill’s original language and underfunding.
»Related: Iowa beef company secures $150M investment for packing facility
