P.O. Box 6486
Lincoln, NE 68506
Web site: www.competitivemarkets.com
Date: May 31, 2001 For Immediate Release
Contact: Michael C. Stumo: 860.379.6199
Doug O’Brien: 860.379.6199
IBP Engages in Illegal Market Retaliation in Missouri
The Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) condemned the actions of IBP in retaliating against Missouri livestock producers due to IBP’s objections to Missouri’s price discrimination law. A recent Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling upheld a two-year old Missouri law prohibiting certain types of price discrimination in livestock markets. Meat packer interests fought the law in the legislature and the courts and lost both times. Now IBP is engaging in what OCM believes to be illegal retaliation against producers in the State of Missouri as a result of its frustration.
“The Missouri price discrimination law clearly delineates proper and improper market conduct for meat packers who buy livestock in Missouri,” said Michael C. Stumo, OCM general counsel. “They may pay different prices for hogs and cattle according to differences in quality, transportation, procurement costs, and special delivery times. Unfortunately, IBP is feigning confusion as a pretext to discriminating against the whole State of Missouri when its actual reasons appear to be based on frustration arising from the American Meat Institute’s failed court challenge to the law.”
In an IBP press release, IBP said that it is pulling out of auction markets, stopping bidding on a live buy-cash basis, and offering only one grade and yield price for each marketing day. However, Missouri officials have made clear after the law was passed that bids in auction markets were exempt from the law. Further, the statute specifically states that it “shall not be construed to mean that a price or payment method must remain fixed throughout any marketing period.” Additionally, all packers have extensive grade and yield histories on producers’ livestock which allow them to bid very accurately on a live basis. Thus, IBP’s feigning confusion is less than credible.
“IBP appears to be intentionally misreading the Missouri law to justify its retaliatory actions,” said Doug O’Brien, OCM assistant counsel. “IBP’s claim that it is forced to act in this way to avoid liability under Missouri law is actually subjecting it to liability under the federal Packers & Stockyards Act for discriminating against livestock producers in the State of Missouri.”
“Missouri producers should not take these threats lying down,” said Keith Mudd, Missouri farmer and OCM vice president. “They should continue fighting for fairness in the marketplace and not back down when meat packers inflict unfair practices upon them.”
The Organization for Competitive Markets is a multidisciplinary, nonprofit group of farmers, ranchers, academics, attorneys, and policy makers dedicated to reclaiming the agricultural marketplace for independent farmers, ranchers and rural communities.
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