Invitation to Join focus group – Fairness and Competition in Livestock and Poultry Markets
The University of Missouri is conducting focus groups with producers, industry actors, and other stakeholders engaged with or impacted by sectors of the U.S. meatpacking industry. The purpose of this research is to gain insights about current producer engagement with the USDA Packers and Stockyards Division and to better understand the level of satisfaction with the Division’s market monitoring and antitrust enforcement.
Participants will be offered a $50 egiftcard for their participation in the 90-minute online focus group conducted via Zoom. (There could be opportunities for in-person focus groups as well.) Participants will not be asked any identifying information during the focus group beyond their first name.
We are hoping to speak with producers from the following industries:
- cow/calf producers
- cattle feedlot operators
- hog contractors and independent growers
- poultry contract growers
- alternative growers across sectors (i.e. regenerative or organic poultry, cattle, or hog producers) – this virtual group is planned for December 4 at 12:30 pm Central Time
You can reach the research team by emailing Mary Hendrickson at hendricksonm or Mallory Daily at dailyml You can provide eligibility information here.
Additional project background: In 2023, Congress appropriated funding to the United States Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to enhance enforcement of the Packers & Stockyards Act of 1921. Through recent efforts from AMS to enhance fairness and competition in the livestock and poultry marketplaces, the agency has recognized the need to improve outreach and engagement with producers to better assess if markets are fair and competitive for all participants. The producer focus group findings will inform Packer’s and Stockyards’ outreach and engagement with producers and will help prepare the Division for enhanced market monitoring and antitrust enforcement in the United States.
