Stop JBS Merger
Release Date:
07/20/2008
By:
Elisha Smith
A few weeks ago my family and I attended a banquet to honor cattlemen and the cattle industry in our area. As members of the Nebraska Cattlemen we were encouraged to attend the Cattlemen's Midyear Meeting in Lincoln where the keynote speaker was Wesley Batista, President and CEO of JBS Swift & Company. We were not able to attend, but I hope that my fellow Nebraska Cattlemen asked some of the tough questions of Mr. Batista that I wanted to ask.
JBS Swift, the Brazilian meatpacker, has announced its intention to buy both National Beef and the Smithfield Beef Group. If this deal is approved by the Department of Justice, three meatpacking companies will control at least 73% of the daily beef processing capacity in the United States. By itself, JBS Swift will control at least 31% of that capacity. And that's not all -- in planning to buy Smithfield's Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding operation, JBS Swift would become the largest cattle feeder in the country as well. When is enough, enough? When is it too much?
If approved, the merger will result in less competition, less market access and lower prices for small farmers and ranchers. The values that emanate from Nebraska family farms, ranches, and rural communities are of no concern to a transnational meatpacker like JBS. What will this merger mean for the economic and social health of our small towns? And what will it mean for the preservation of our natural resources?
If approved, the merger will result in less competition, less market access and lower prices for small farmers and ranchers. The values that emanate from Nebraska family farms, ranches, and rural communities are of no concern to a transnational meatpacker like JBS. What will this merger mean for the economic and social health of our small towns? And what will it mean for the preservation of our natural resources?
Do we want to see all of our cattle produced in feedlots owned or controlled by transnational meatpackers? Or do we want to see our cattle produced on small, dispersed family farms and ranches? That is the question at hand. Family farms and ranches have shown time and again that they are more efficient and can compete with giant industrial operations, but not if they lack market access and face outright market manipulation from meatpackers.
These mergers should be stopped, if you agree, visit http://www.cfra.org/JBS and tell the Justice Department to stop the JBS merger.
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