‘Big Four’ meatpackers under fire as beef prices soar

The Guardian ^ | 25th February 2026 | Ted Genoways, Food & Environment Reporting Network

[Cronos]

On 21 November, at the end of the first shift at the Tyson Foods beef processing plant in Lexington, Nebraska, all workers were called to the lunchroom and told they no longer had jobs..

And the move didn’t seem to make sense. Tyson is one of four beef producers – along with JBS, Cargill and National Beef, known collectively as “the Big Four” – that control 85% of the industry, and their profit margins are at their highest levels in years as consumer prices soar. Tyson had just announced that its profits were up 6.5% over the previous year. Why would the company shut down one of its largest plants, employing 3,200 workers?

...“Tyson made a calculation that the profits they will reap manipulating market prices by shutting down this giant plant will EXCEED any loss they incur.” (In October, Tyson agreed to pay $55m to consumers who claimed that the company colluded with other beef producers to inflate prices, and in January agreed to pay an additional $87m to a group of small grocers and retailers of case-ready beef. Tyson denied wrongdoing in both cases.)

...many of the Big Four’s business partners have filed lawsuits – including grocery store chains Kroger and Aldi, big-box stores Target and BJ’s Wholesale Club, food distributors including Sysco and Sodexo, and burger giant McDonald’s. Donald Trump felt compelled to call for action, directing the US Department of Justice, in a post on Truth Social in November, to open an inquiry “into the Meat Packing Companies who are driving up the price of Beef”.

---

TOPICS: Business/Economy; US: Nebraska
KEYWORDS: beef; food; leftistsource; meat; tedgenoways

[Cronos]

...From 2009 to 2014, the Big Four were paying steadily increasing prices for cattle. This was due to a shortage brought on by drought, which had spurred cattlemen to reduce their herds. The packers responded to the higher prices by closing a total of five plants between January 2013 and September 2014, including one of Cargill’s largest plants in Plainview, Texas, which processed more than 4,500 head per day – roughly 5% of all beef production in the country. Ranchers and small feedlot owners with full-grown, fattened cattle don’t have space or feed to wait out a dip in buying, so they were forced to accept a lower price.

[butlerweave]

Check them for Illegal Alien workers that they pay under the table

[Bulwyf]

This is why we have our own slaughterhouse, own butcher and direct market.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Tyson had just announced that its profits were up 6.5% over the previous year. Why would the company shut down one of its largest plants, employing 3,200 workers?

There are plenty of good reasons to criticize Tyson but this statement just shows how ideologically captured The Guardian's business news desk is. Why would a profitable company shut down a plant, the implication being that if the company is profitable, there is no reason to shut down plants. Of course, if the company was losing money, they'd still carry on if a plant was shut down.

[ptsal]

The concentration of market power has reached the point where the meat packers and distributors have evolved into a public utility. Competition has been tossed into the trash bin.

[AZJeep]

Yes. The meat processing business pretty much employs only illegals.
I know several US citizens, who used to work in that business until they were replaced by the “better” ones.
In the meatpacking plant towns English is no longer used.

[dfwgator]

Break ‘em up!

[pissant]

Guardian on food economics? What’s next, Mother Jones on immigration enforcement?

[V_TWIN]

Fox News had some cattle rancher on last week saying with a straight face the price of beef really isn’t that high......if I coulda reached into my TV I’d have choked that old man.

Man, that pissed me off to no end.

[Bon of Babble]

How many of us remember eating a lot of Hamburger Helper growing up? A pound of ground beef was cheap and Hamburger Helper extended it to feed an entire family - plus “us” kids loved it.

Average price in the 80s for ground beef: ≈ $1.20/lb. As of Jan 2026, the price is $6.70/lb. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

I also remember when cheaper cuts of beef - for pot roast - were cheap - now even that is $9.99/lb. (did see it on sale this week at my local market for $5.99/lb.)

[Tommy Revolts]

How nice to have. That’s awesome.

[pierrem15]

Tyson is only able to do this because there's little competition. Look at it this way: they are also driving the profits up of their "competition."

All four companies are engaged in illegal anti-competitive practices. All four are also hiring illegal aliens.

Perfectly emblematic of the "enshi-ification" of America's economy, where not only are American's robbed blind by monopoly practices but companies refuse to pay American wages and hire illegals.

[rellic]

I live surrounded by the second largest cattle ranch in America, Parker ranch, HI.
Beef prices in the stores are higher here also. Everything is pricier in Hawaii, just because they can get away with it.
I raise my own beef. I shoot wild pigs as they walk through my 5 acre yard. Wild chickens are all over the place.
Not exactly what you picture as Hawaii? Maybe on your next trip you should avoid the tourist traps and spend some time on the Big island, hiking the country side.

[Bulwyf]

We need to take back our industries and put it back in the hands of those who care about the industry and the people who are relying on it for their dinner plates. Big corporations have gone way out of control and the rampant corruption and market manipulation has to stop.

[dfwgator]

[SunkenCiv]

• BREAKING: O'Keefe Media Group Goes Undercover: Cattle Ranchers and Insiders Expose How Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef Secretly Control America's Beef Market (VIDEO) [02/24/2026]

[Jamestown1630]

I liked Hamburger Helper as a kid; I liked the ‘Manwich’ sloppy joe, too.

I can’t eat either now; the one is too salty and the other too sweet.

I guess like other tastes, our taste in food matures, too.

[Bon of Babble]

LOL, that’s why we loved it as kids - had no idea what was in it, just that it tasted good...

Later, when we found out it was loaded with sodium and other chemicals we abandoned it to the next generation of children.

That was back when ground beef was cheap - now even serving Hamburger Helper has gotten expensive!

[jimpick]

“”””Fox News had some cattle rancher on last week saying with a straight face the price of beef really isn’t that high......if I coulda reached into my TV I’d have choked that old man.

Man, that pissed me off to no end.””””

Do you think maybe that the price to the rancher is low? And yes, in fact it isn’t that high at the farm but is jacked up from the shortage of processors. I mean that was the point of closing the plant was it not? To increase the profit by restricting the supply. And when there are less processors buying the farmer has to sell at a lower profit. Correct?

Your anger is at the wrong person. I just bought a half cow from a local farmer for just over $4 a pound all wrapped up. Just needed to pay and pick it up. I consider that a great price for an animal that has to be taken care of for well over a year before it can be sold.

And shouldn’t a farmer be able to feed his family and retire someday like every other worker out there? Or should he toil at a job for his whole life with never taking a vacation and dying on his tractor so you can enjoy a stake on the grill with your family?

[donozark]

Monett Missouri comes to mind.