The Next Disaster Coming to the Great Plains Acute scarcity drives the search for water underground. But the West’s major aquifers are in trouble, too. By Lucas Bessire Matt Black / Magnum December 26, 2021, 7 AM ET About the author: Lucas Bessire is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Oklahoma and…

Getting Rid of Cow Guts, Scraps Holds Back Small Meat Processors By Seth Bodine, Harvest Public Media Dec. 20, 2021, Brian Lane, owner of Tonkawa Processing Corporation in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, stands in a freezer full of cow carcasses. Lane received a grant from the state to expand the processor to be federally inspected so ranchers…

From: Robert & LuAnn Meyer Sent: Friday, December 17, 2021 9:06 AM To: Heather Richardson Subject: Monopolization & Consolidation I’m Agriculture & other sectors Ms. Richardson, Many of us who have been engaged in Agriculture for decades are increasingly concerned about monopolization & consolidation in Agriculture. There have been a lot of writings on this…

Small farms are producing less and facing money problems By Jonathan Ahl Published December 13, 2021 A new U.S. Department of Agriculture report found the percentage of farms that are small and family owned remained unchanged from 2011 to 2020, holding steady at 89% of all farms. A new report from the U.S. Department of…

https://www.agriculture.com/news/business/white-house-points-inflation-finger-at-meatpackers WHITE HOUSE POINTS INFLATION FINGER AT MEATPACKERS By Chuck Abbott 12/13/2021 Grocery prices are climbing at their fastest pace since 2008, with beef, pork and poultry leading the way — up nearly 13% since last November, said the government’s new inflation report. The White House pinned the blame for surging meat prices on meatpackers…

Beefing Up Antitrust Enforcement: How to Revitalize American Agriculture feat. AG Keith Ellison and USDA Senior Advisor Andy Green Video Americans are paying too much for meat — not because the fundamental economics of pork, poultry, or beef have changed, but because a handful of corporate monopolies control every aspect of the industry. Four firms…

Recent Data Show Dominant Meat Processing Companies Are Taking Advantage of Market Power to Raise Prices and Grow Profit Margins December 10, 2021 • Blog By: Brian Deese, Sameera Fazili, and Bharat Ramamurti

BUY LOCAL Staff Reporter December 1, 2021 Bryan Oller In 1998 Kansas cattle rancher Mike Callicrate, a native of Evergreen, found out how the meat business really works. After years of criticizing the meat packing industry’s monopolistic and environmentally harmful practices of the meat packing industry, Callicrate said he was “blackballed”— and his 12,000 head…

DOJ Fertilizer Price Inquiry Requested Farm Group Calls for DOJ Investigation Into Rising Fertilizer Prices 12/8/2021 | 3:41 PM CST By Todd Neeley , DTN Staff Reporter A farm group has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the possible causes of rising fertilizer prices. (DTN file photo) LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) — A national…

There won’t be need for a large space for the contract library. In the 2004 Tyson/IBP trial, head buyer, Bruce Bass, testified that IBP had over a thousand different captive supply deals, none were in writing. Sounds a lot like the Mafia. Download The Report Cattle Contract Library Act Southeast Regional Ag News Thursday Dec…