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Farm Bill Seeks Fairer Markets
By Mabel Dobbs
Upton Sinclair’s book “The Jungle” exposed the abuses of power by the meat packers in the early 20th Century when five packers controlled over 75 percent of beef slaughter. Today four companies control 83 percent of the cattle slaughtered in this country. My third-grade granddaughters can see that corporate control in the meat industry today runs more rampant than ever in history.
We independent livestock producers have worked for years to see competitive markets so that we can financially survive doing what we do best – providing U.S. consumers with the healthiest and safest food in the world. A unified effort by poultry growers, consumers and livestock producers like my family have moved the U.S. Senate to pass historic reforms in competitive livestock markets and fair contracts in the Farm Bill.
These reforms are part of the Livestock Title, the first-ever in the Farm Bill.
When packers operate in an open market, the laws of supply and demand work more effectively. When they need cattle, they have to bid against other packers to get that supply. For the cow/calf producer like me, this is vital to my livelihood. When the packers drive down prices to the feedlot owners by slaughtering cattle they own, those feeders pay less for my calves.This Farm Bill finally gives every consumer in this country the opportunity to walk into the grocery store and buy meat labeled with its country of origin.
Another segment of the Livestock Title is the interstate shipment of meat. For years, small packers have not been able to ship their product across state lines due to federal regulations.
The House version of the Farm Bill did not include the Livestock Title while the Senate version did. Congress must now reconcile both versions, with a likely final bill to be produced next month. For the sake and health of rural America, it is urgent that Congress include the Livestock Title and these key reforms in the final Farm Bill.
— Mabel Dobbs ranches in Weiser, Idaho, and is Chair of WORC’s (Western Organization of Resource Councils) Livestock Committee. Based in Billings, Montana, WORC is a network of conservation and agriculture organizations.
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We independent livestock producers have worked for years to see competitive markets so that we can financially survive doing what we do best – providing U.S. consumers with the healthiest and safest food in the world. A unified effort by poultry growers, consumers and livestock producers like my family have moved the U.S. Senate to pass historic reforms in competitive livestock markets and fair contracts in the Farm Bill.
These reforms are part of the Livestock Title, the first-ever in the Farm Bill.
When packers operate in an open market, the laws of supply and demand work more effectively. When they need cattle, they have to bid against other packers to get that supply. For the cow/calf producer like me, this is vital to my livelihood. When the packers drive down prices to the feedlot owners by slaughtering cattle they own, those feeders pay less for my calves.This Farm Bill finally gives every consumer in this country the opportunity to walk into the grocery store and buy meat labeled with its country of origin.
Another segment of the Livestock Title is the interstate shipment of meat. For years, small packers have not been able to ship their product across state lines due to federal regulations.
The House version of the Farm Bill did not include the Livestock Title while the Senate version did. Congress must now reconcile both versions, with a likely final bill to be produced next month. For the sake and health of rural America, it is urgent that Congress include the Livestock Title and these key reforms in the final Farm Bill.
— Mabel Dobbs ranches in Weiser, Idaho, and is Chair of WORC’s (Western Organization of Resource Councils) Livestock Committee. Based in Billings, Montana, WORC is a network of conservation and agriculture organizations.