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HYDE-SMITH, COLLEAGUES INTRODUCE ‘MEAT PACKING SPECIAL INVESTIGATOR ACT’
Bipartisan Bill Would Help Local Ranchers, Consumers by Combatting Anticompetitive Acts in Meatpacking Industry, 85 Percent Controlled by Just Four Companies
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) is part of a bipartisan group of lawmakers who have introduced legislation to crack down on America’s Big Four meatpackers that undercut local ranchers and drive up prices paid by shoppers for meat and eggs.
Hyde-Smith is an original cosponsor of the Meat Packing Special Investigator Act (S.1312), which would create the “Office of the Special Investigator for Competition Matters” within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Packers and Stockyards Division. The new office would be authorized to prevent and address anticompetitive practices in the meat and poultry industries and enforce federal antitrust laws.
“The struggle to get by only gets worse for cattle producers year after year, and a lot of that is tied to consolidation in the meat packing industry. It is certainly not the producers making a profit from the high prices consumers are paying, which indicates something has gone wrong,” Senator Hyde-Smith said. “This legislation is sorely needed to investigate and pursue any anti-competitive activities that are hurting producers and consumers alike.”
The new USDA special investigators would have subpoena powers, which would give the USDA more power to investigate anticompetitive activities and hold bad actors accountable, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.
Today, just four companies control 85 percent of the beef market and 67 percent of the pork market, which is up from 36 percent and 34 percent in 1980, respectively. As a result, the Big Four meatpackers have created a system allowing them to accumulate billions of dollars on the backs of ranchers struggling to make ends meet and shoppers suffering expensive meat and egg prices.
Introduced by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), S.1312 is also cosponsored by U.S. Senators Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and John Hoeven (R-N.D.).
The National Farmers Union and the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association endorsed the Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act.
“If the bad actors in the marketplace have nothing to hide, then they should have no problem with reinforcing USDA’s oversight authority through the measures provided in this bill. It’s not enough that producers stand on a level playing field in the marketplace – there also needs to be a referee, with a whistle, there to throw a flag when there’s a penalty. USCA fully supports the Meat Packing Special Investigator Act and would like to applaud our Champions for ‘Competition’ in the Senate who never waiver on supporting producers not just in Oregon, South Dakota, and Iowa – but across the countryside,” said Justin Tupper, U.S. Cattlemen’s Association president.
“A special investigator at USDA is an important step to cracking down on unfair practices and leveling the playing field for independent livestock producers. Senators Wyden, Rounds, and Grassley get it—strong enforcement keeps monopolies in check. When family farmers and ranchers thrive, so do our rural communities,” said Rob Larew, president of the National Farmers Union.
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