antitrust

In this week's PNWAg.net Op-Ed, Bill Bullard asks for our U.S. cattle and sheep industries, do you want free markets or competitive markets?

Expect some ripples in the meat market as a major settlement aims to bring transparency to pricing. Here’s what you need to know.

Tensions rise in the beef industry as the DOJ takes a closer look at major meatpackers and their grip on cattle prices.

Tyson Foods and Cargill will pay a combined $87.5 million in a settlement reached with the Consumer Indirect Purchaser plaintiffs in a beef price-fixing lawsuit that began in 2019.

Tyson Foods recently announced it will be closing a Virginia processing plant in May.  The two-month notice given to its chicken suppliers has raised concerns among farmers and legal experts about Tyson’s compliance with antitrust regulations.  Those re...

Farmers and ranchers can now anonymously report potentially unfair and anti-competitive practices in the livestock and poultry sectors. The USDA and the Justice Department launched an online tool late last week to make it easier for farmers to file those reports ...

Recently, senators Mike Rounds, Republican from South Dakota, and Tina Smith, a Democrat from Minnesota, wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding the state of the U.S. meatpacking industry. They asked him to enforce or examine America’s antitrust laws to restore fairness in the marketplace for cattle producers and are asking their colleagues in both the House and Senate to

As the Ag community moves past the struggles and difficulties of 2020, the question of what the future holds in store becomes more and more important. Tom Sharp, President of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, said one of the chief issues the livestock industry will want addressed in 2021 and further down the road, the monopolistic actions by the few packing companies that remain. He ... Read

A U.S. District Court in Minnesota has dismissed an anti-trust lawsuit against meatpackers like Tyson Foods, JBS, the National Beef Packing Company, and Cargill. R-CALF led several plaintiffs in filing the lawsuit. Chief Judge John Tunheim left open the opportunity for plaintiffs to amend their complaint ...

Last week, USDA released an update on its investigation of cattle markets. American Farm Bureau Federation Congressional Relations Director Scott Bennett said the report is looking at market price disparities. “In the report, USDA outlines exactly what has happened in the volatile cattle markets since the Holcomb fire in August of 2019, and the volatilities due to COVID-19. In a ...