R-CALF recently submitted comments to USDA identifying two core structural problems in the U.S. cattle industry.
CEO Bill Bullard says that the first factor is concentration in the beef packing sector. He says that created the second problem, which is four main packers taking control of both the supply and demand side of the industry, and that gives them unlimited access to global beef imports.
According to Bullard, “They have the inherent market power, possessed by virtue of their high concentration. Then they have this new ability to displace domestic production with imports sourced from around the world, and the combination of those two factors has contributed significantly to the downturn in prices that U.S. cattle producers receive.”
Recently, Bullard expressed his support for an effort to bring back mandatory country of origin labeling. He also said that he supports the Grassley-Tester bill, which would require packers to purchase 50 percent of their cattle on the spot market.
He says increased competition is the solution.
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Producers and packers are not in the same business