As poultry corporations face price- and wage-fixing scandals, Cargill and Continental Grain want to further consolidate the industry.
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Lawmakers and ranchers want answers from antitrust enforcers about rising consumer beef prices and stagnant live cattle prices.
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Methane emissions from industrial hog and dairy operations are rising and contributing to climate change, yet the industry faces little regulation.
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While hundreds of millions for cheated customers is nothing to sneeze at, it is not clear if these recent settlements will discourage future collusion.
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In its final days, the Trump administration finalized narrow and industry-friendly Packers & Stockyards rules that will leave farmers with little recourse if they are abused by meatpackers.
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A class-action lawsuit accusing major poultry processors of working together to hold down plant workers’ wages will move into the next stage of litigation after a court ruling last Wednesday. However, some of the largest corporate players, including Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride, and Perdue, could be off the hook unless workers fine-tune their case by mid-October.
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Wholesale beef prices have jumped to record levels, as shoppers stockpile meat in response to the global coronavirus pandemic. But this run on beef isn’t helping cattle ranchers. On the contrary, cattle prices have plummeted since January, putting many ranchers on the brink of collapse.
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Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. and Chinese trade officials reached a deal to lift China’s five-year ban on U.S. poultry imports in exchange for the U.S. allowing more Chinese cooked chicken and seafood products.
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Last week, nearly 500 cattle producers from 14 states rallied in Omaha, Nebraska to denounce corporate control over cattle markets and to demand that the Trump administration do something to fix it.
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Will out-of-state investors own a sizable portion of Costco’s chicken production? One investor from North Carolina has applied for permits to build at least 132 chicken houses across nine locations in four Nebraska counties, according to public documents reviewed by Food & Power. Read Claire Kelloway's latest story on how one private equity fund could own a quarter of the chicken houses for Costco’s project in Nebraska.
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This week, livestock farmers and advocacy groups from across the country flew to Capitol Hill to share stories of exploitation by large meatpackers and call for greater farmer protections. At issue is a pending rule by the USDA that will clarify farmers’ grounds to sue meatpackers for retaliation, discrimination, and other abusive practices.
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