Agriculture groups skeptical, but hopeful about White House plan to make meat markets more competitive

Today (Jan. 3, 2022), the Biden-Harris Administration announced an “Action Plan for a Fairer, More Competitive, and More Resilient Meat and Poultry Supply Chain.”

North American Meat Institute:

The North American Meat Institute claims the government intervention will not help consumers or producers. NAMI President Julie Anna Potts says, “The Biden Administration continues to ignore the number one challenge to meat and poultry production: labor shortages.” Further, the organization claims the Biden administration is “conveniently ignoring” the fact the beef industry has changed little for almost 30 years, and that prices reflect supply and demand in a healthy market.

 

American Farm Bureau Federation:

American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall says, “AFBF appreciates the Biden administration’s continued work to ensure a fair and competitive meat processing system. We must get to the bottom of why farmers and ranchers continue to receive low payments while families across America endure rising meat prices.

“Farmers and ranchers want a fair shake. The joint initiative between USDA and the Department of Justice to create an online portal to report competition law violations, and efforts to strengthen the Packers & Stockyards Act, will go a long way to ensuring fairness in the industry. More accurately defining ‘Product of the USA’ labeling will also allow families to make more well-informed decisions at the grocery store.

“We are encouraged by the administration’s willingness to work with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to improve price discovery in the cattle markets. We urge bipartisanship throughout this process. Securing fair prices for farmers and for families is a goal that transcends party lines.”

R-CALF USA says the plan includes massive amounts of government funding intended to slowly rebuild the now dismantled competitive marketing channels for cattle and beef, which has created what the administration calls a “bottleneck” in the nation’s food supply chain.

CEO Bill Bullard said the funding announced in the plan should help increase both the number of marketing channels for America’s cattle farmers and ranchers as well as distribution channels for America’s consumers.

“We recognize that this level of government involvement is unprecedented, and that it’s critical for reversing the decades of inattention, neglect and denial that facilitated the elimination of competition in our U.S. cattle industry,” he said.

But, Bullard said his group remains skeptical about the plan’s strategy for addressing decades of nonenforcement of U.S. antitrust laws and the 100-year-old Packers and Stockyards Act.

He said his organization waited for years and by 2019 it was clear the government was disinclined to protect the cattle industry from alleged packer buying practices that R-CALF USA alleged were harming America’s cattle producers in the group’s private antitrust lawsuit filed against the largest packers in April of that year.

“Our nation’s cattle industry is in a serious crisis and while we appreciate the administration’s plans to write rules with which to implement portions of the Packers and Stockyards Act, correct the exploitive “Product of USA” beef label, and increase market transparency by requiring more information, as well as its attempt to identify any new, potential violations of competition laws, the fact remains that the administration has not announced that it will take decisive enforcement action to protect America’s cattle producers from the harms they’ve been experiencing for the past seven years, and we remain disappointed with that omission,” Bullard concluded.

USCA President Brooke Miller said, “Today’s announcement puts into motion what our members have, for years, urged action on – empowering the independent producer and processor to create a more robust and resilient food system.

“USCA commends the Biden-Harris Administration for its persistence in working to restore competition throughout the U.S. economy. We are hopeful that the Action Plan unveiled today will help bring transparency and true price discovery to the cattle marketplace, bring back truth in labeling through the closure of the Product of the U.S.A. loophole, and invest in a stronger – and more American – meat industry. We look forward to working with the Administration to implement the provisions outlined in this Action Plan.”

The four core strategies that make up the Action Plan seek to strengthen the bottom line of independent producers and processors, while also providing more choices and affordable prices for U.S. consumers.

The United States Cattlemen’s Association participated in several stakeholder meetings and public comment opportunities last year, which helped White House officials formulate this Action Plan. USCA also assisted Congressional leaders like Senators Jon Tester (D-MT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Thune (R-SD), Mike Rounds (R-SD) and others, in drafting provisions that are included within this Action Plan.