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.
We have over 400 head of dairy. If we have cull cows it’s difficult to get them butchered. They often go into compost.
We are right now setting up an on farm butcher shop. It’s real tempting to also set up an on farm cheese production facility. And pasteurizer, yogurt production, ....
Post 9-
Great summary.
I would add the concentration of power is also on the retail distribution side of the equation with only small number of grocery outlets. Those stores also demand a “fixed” price and a specific delivery volume to fill their pipeline.
Bad weather and other catastrophes may ding the flow of live cattle or boxed beef, so the swings in prices are for the marginal supply. Think of it as the “last mile” in the food chain.
The small independent rancher and the individual consumer get whipsawed and beat-up by the monopolies and oligarchies. Since you gotta eat to live, the rascals have “you” captured.