11 attorneys general seek probe into meatpacking industry The attorneys general for 11 Midwestern states have urged the Justice Department to investigate market concentration and potential price fixing by meatpackers in the cattle industry during the coronavirus pandemic By ROXANA HEGEMAN Associated Press May 5, 2020, 2:40 PM BELLE PLAINE, Kan. — The attorneys general…
Joaquin Contente: Smaller Plants Are the Answer Joaquin Contente – California Farmers Union May 6, 2020 12:36 PM Small butcher plant worker ( David Sommerstein/NPR ) The opinions expressed in the following commentary are those of Joaquin Contente, president of California Farmers Union, Hanford, CA. In her April 27th commentary “We Need More Small Plants,”…
Booker renews push to phase out factory farming by 2040 after pandemic hits meatpacking plants By J. Edward Moreno – 05/07/20 © Bonnie Cash Democrats are renewing a push started by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) last year that would crack down on factory farming as several meatpacking plants in the country recover from coronavirus outbreaks….
April 28, 2020 UDAF to Allow Private Custom Meat Plants to Slaughter and Process Livestock for Commercial Sale Temporary Measure Designed to Partially Make Up for Reduced Production at Commercial Facilities(Salt Lake City) The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF) has taken action to alleviate the stockpile of animals from farms and ranches waiting…
Image via Shutterstock. Written by Claire Kelloway / Washington Monthly April 29, 2020 For many Americans, grocery shopping has become an intensely stressful experience. To maintain social distancing, people must queue before entering stores. Once inside, they must scramble to find increasingly scarce products, including household staples from milk and eggs to pork and beef….
Tyson Foods helped create the meat crisis it now warns against · JEN SKERRITT Bloomberg News 5.3.20 TYSON FOODS Workers trim beef at the Tyson Fresh Meats plant in Dakota City, Neb. in 2012. · Keith Myers, Kansas City Star John Tyson, the billionaire whose family business reigns as the largest meat processor in the…
9 Actions We Can Take Now to Strengthen Our Agriculture and Food System April 30, 2020 OCM Staff The Covid-19 Pandemic has had many effects on the economy of the United States, and particularly hard-hit has been the agriculture and food sector. Not since the Depression have we seen such a disparity between retail and…
Farm and Food File for the week beginning Sunday, May 3, 2020 Unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains! Alan Guebert For over a month now, nearly anyone who can lift a fork has asked what the “new normal” in American agriculture will be after Covid-19 loosens its terrible grip. Six weeks later,…
As Cases Mounted, Meatpacker JBS Kept People on Crowded Factory Floors May 1, 2020 With coronavirus outbreaks at two-thirds of the company’s beef processing plants, employees are asking, “Why didn’t they help protect us?” Esther Honig and Ted Genoways For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters. On her…
OCM Calls for Breakup of Big Four Meatpackers May 30, 2020 LINCOLN, NE: Today, Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) is calling for the breakup of the “Big Four” meatpacking companies: Cargill, JBS, National Beef, and Tyson. Together, these four companies control over 85% of the United States beef supply. Recent packing plant closures due to…