The Organization for Competitive Markets strongly supports Senator Charles Grassley’s renewed legislation prohibiting meat packers from owning and feeding livestock.  The bill was introduced and passed in the Senate during the 2002 Farm Bill debate, but did not survive the conference committee process.

“Farmers and ranchers have recognized the anti-competitive effects of packers owning and controlling livestock since 1994,” said Keith Mudd, OCM President.  “The problem has only become worse as less than ten percent of the nation’s hogs are sold on the open market.  The risks of price manipulation are tremendous.”

The Packer Ownership Prohibition bill does not affect livestock producer who own hogs or cattle and sell them to packers under a contract.  But the bill does prohibit packers from owning livestock for more than seven days prior to slaughter, or controlling a production operation that supplies the packer.  More than 210 organizations across the country called for a packer ownership prohibition in a letter delivered to Congress last week.

“Representative Larry Combest of Texas, then Chair of the House Agriculture Committee, blocked the Packer Ownership Prohibition in 2002,” continued Mudd, “We believe there is sufficient support in Congress today to pass this legislation.  Packers should be packers.  America’s livestock producers merely require competitive markets to sell their product.”