For OCM members, a roundup of the week’s news concerning corporate consolidation and monopoly power in food and agriculture. May 22, 2020 OCM Press Release For OCM members, a roundup of the week’s news concerning corporate consolidation and monopoly power in food and agriculture. May 22, 2020 OCM Press Release OCM Calls for Moratorium on…
Monopolies in Meat: Endangering Workers, Farmers, and Consumers Deregulation has led to Big Ag’s giant slaughterhouses, where COVID-19 is rampant and the supply chain grinds to a halt. by Ron Knox May 4, 2020 Francis Gardler/Lincoln Journal Star via AP The Smithfield Foods plant in Crete, Nebraska, which will continue to operate on a reduced…
Germany’s meat industry under fire after COVID-19 outbreaks The German government is poised to approve better protections for workers in the meat industry. The squalid living quarters and unsafe working conditions aren’t new, but COVID-19 has prompted politicians to finally act. Following coronavirus outbreaks at several German meatpacking facilities, Germany’s labor minister is leading the…
Civil Eats – As COVID-19 Disrupts the Industrial Meat System, Independent Processors Have a Moment to Shine Big Meat put most small slaughterhouses out of business. Those left are demonstrating their resilience, but their limited numbers point to the need for improved infrastructure. By Lisa Held Posted on: May 19, 2020 Donna Kilpatrick runs the…
As major meat processors buckle under Covid-19 crisis, busy smaller competitors fight red tape by Baylen J. Linnekin 05.07.2020, 1:30pm USDA/ Preston Keres Could America’s small- to mid-sized meat processors pick up the lost capacity when large packers have to close? They might. But federal meat-inspection laws and regulations are standing in the way. As…
Piglets are crowded in a nursery at Greg Boerboom’s farm in Marshall, Minn.Credit…Jenn Ackerman for The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/business/coronavirus-farmers-killing-pigs.html By Michael Corkery and David Yaffe-Bellany · May 14, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ET · o One Minnesota hog farmer sealed the cracks in his barn and piped carbon dioxide through the ventilation system. Another farmer…
R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard Phone: 406-252-2516; r-calfusa View and share this news release on Facebook here. Ranch Group Urges Opening of CRP Lands to Slow Cattle Supply Chain Billings, Mont. – Last night R-CALF USA sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue asking the Secretary to consider opening the 24 million acres of…
Why Covid-19 plant shutdowns could make the Big Four meatpackers even more profitable by Joe Fassler + H. Claire Brown 05.14.2020, 2:50pm AP Photo/Charlie Riedel For ranchers, workers, and retailers, the pandemic has been a crisis. For the meatpackers who dominate 80 percent of the beef market, it’s been a rare opportunity. For a brief,…
Eric Schlosser Author of Fast Food Nation Under the headline “A Delicate Balance: Feeding the Nation and Keeping Our Employees Healthy,” a letter from John H. Tyson appeared as a full-page ad in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Sunday, April 26. Tyson is chairman of the board at…
R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America For Immediate Release May 12, 2020 R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard Phone: 406-252-2516; r-calfusa View and share this news release on Facebook here. Ranch Group Grateful for Swift Senate Action to Fix Broken Cattle Markets Billings, Mont. – Today, U.S. Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Jon Tester (D-MT), along with…