CORPORATE FARMING NOTES

Iowa bill requiring meatpackers to buy from independent producers killed in subcommittee; telling Congress about vertical integration

>> Despite passage by a significant majority in the Iowa Senate, SF 504, a bill that would have required meatpackers to purchase 25 percent of the hogs they slaughter in Iowa from independent producers, died in a legislative subcommittee.

Representative Delores Mertz (D-Ottosen), chair of the House Agriculture Committee, named herself to a subcommittee to review the bill, seemingly for the purpose of blocking its passage.

Despite calls to move the bill out of committee by farmers, legislators, rural Iowans, farm organizations, and even U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley – who has introduced the same bill in Congress – Rep. Mertz kept the bill under her thumb until it died a procedural death.

I have said it before, and I will say it again, if elected officials want to claim that they fight for family farmers then they must mean what they say – and that means supporting competition and fairness in livestock markets. If they will not support competition in livestock markets, then they ought not say they stand with family farmers and rural communities.

>> A lot of members of Congress have been hinting that they have not heard enough examples of the problems with vertical integration and anti-competitive livestock and poultry markets. I decided to find some stories. I hope you will share yours with me as well. They will be passed along.

A.T. Terry was a contract poultry grower near Lynchburg, Tennessee. He became concerned that Tyson, the integrator who held his contract, was not dealing fairly in the weighing of his chickens prior to slaughter – a significant concern because that weighing determined what he was paid.

A.T. contacted the Packers and Stockyards Administration after he was informed by Tyson officials that he could not observe the weighing of his birds. He persisted, contacting Packers and Stockyards officials up to and including then director Joann Waterfield. He was also elected President of the Tennessee Poultry Growers, an association of growers that shared his concerns.

In the fall of 2005 he again contacted Packers and Stockyards and was referred to the agency’s Policy and Litigation Division. Shortly thereafter, when it came time for weighing his birds again, he was informed by a Tyson representative that Packers and Stockyards had revealed to them that he was pursuing redress of his concerns, but still refused his request. In January of 2006 Tyson refused to renew A.T.’s contract, financially ruining his poultry operation.

Contact: John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org or 402.687.2103 x 1010 for more information on the Center's Coporate Farming Notes.