High prices caused by would-be monopolists interposing themselves between producer and consumer.
If only it was would be. 4 companies control it.
The “Big Four”—Tyson, JBS, Cargill, and National Beef—purchase and process 85 percent of beef in the United States.
In the past 20 years, a revolving door has swung between the meatpackers’ biggest lobbying firm, the North American Meat Institute, and the USDA.
Packers own “feeder cattle” that they place with ranchers or their own feedlots. And through “forward contracts” and exclusive purchasing agreements, ranchers sell at prearranged prices to the packers, divorced from supply and demand. This creates “captive supply” for the packers, increasing their control over how many cattle they purchase and at what price.
JBS and National Beef are Brazilian companies and JBS’s parent has a sordid history of collusion, bribery and other illegal behavior.
As usual.
We buy our milk from local farmers. Legal in the Live Free of Die state.