Guest Post: We need a transparent livestock market to save family farms

Family farmers I know say we’ve been under the thumb of corporate ag bosses and the big meatpackers for too long. Political affiliation doesn’t seem to matter—they all agree something needs to be done to make our agriculture and livestock markets more open, fair and transparent.

And right now, family farm cattle producers are organizing across the country to do something about the power that corporate meatpackers have over livestock markets and prices.

In late June, the Biden Administration announced its “Fair and Competitive Livestock and Poultry Markets” proposed rule. It will address burdensome “proof of harm to competition” standards that make it very hard for independent family farmers and ranchers to hold big meatpackers accountable.

The rule marks an important step in small and mid-sized farmers pushing for stronger enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA).

The PSA was passed over a century ago because thousands of family farmers organized to challenge the power of corporate meatpackers. Livestock producers demanded limits on corporate concentration and consolidation, strict penalties for anti-competitive practices, and open and transparent livestock transactions.

While the PSA successfully prevented many meatpacker abuses for decades, the trickle-down, anti-family farmer policies of the 1980s unleashed a level of corporate concentration in livestock markets that’s hard to stomach. The facts are a reminder of how serious the problem has become today.

Just four multinational companies now control 87% of cattle slaughter and packaging capacity. In 1975, the big four controlled just 25%. Cargill, JBS, Tyson and National Beef (owned by Marfrig) continue to use their market power to pay farmers as little as possible for calves and fat cattle, while raising prices for packaged beef.

In recent years, these same meatpackers have cashed in, regularly reporting record profits while 40 U.S. cattle producers leave the business every day. There are over 17,000 beef cattle producers in Iowa, and the economic activity they generate helps sustain our rural communities.

Fixing a broken market will help small and mid-sized cattle producers, which in turn will help all of us. That’s why Iowa CCI members are participating in the national organizing drive to strengthen enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act. We’re collecting public comments in support of the proposed PSA rule.

Fellow CCI member and Tama County cattle producer Berleen Wobeter told me: “We independent beef producers need to find our voice and push back against these corporate meatpackers who try to persuade us to go against our own best interests. This USDA rule is what we need.”

And with a new president starting next January, the clock is ticking. Former President Trump canceled PSA rules proposed by the Obama Administration when he took office in 2017. That’s why USDA needs to finalize the rule now.

A hundred years ago, family farmers organized to fix a broken market and improve their economic viability. We can do the same thing today.

Add your support for fair markets and fair prices by emailing [email protected] or by sending written comments to us at 2001 Forest Avenue, Des Moines, IA, 50311. Tell us why you support strengthening enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act, and we’ll make sure USDA and the Biden Administration hear our collective voices loud and clear.

Barb Kalbach is a fourth-generation family farmer from Adair County, a registered nurse, and board president of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. She can be reached at [email protected].