020228 Cattle Group Backs Republican Meat Packer Study

Washington - The National Cattlemen's Beef Association said it favored a Republican plan to study concentration of ownership by meat packers instead of a Democratic measure to ban packers from raising livestock.

An Agriculture Department report last month found the four largest meatpackers feed or hold contracts on one-third of the cattle they slaughter. The companies are ConAgra Foods Inc., Tyson Foods Inc., the farmer-owned cooperative Farmland Industries and privately owned Cargill Inc.

Wythe Willey, the new president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, told reporters a ban on packer ownership could cause “serious short-term problems,” including a drop in prices if packers were forced to sell their herds.

Such a ban could also affect advance agreements by ranchers to produce animals with specific traits like low-fat meat to a specific packer, the group said.

“We're very concerned about losing some of the wonderful progress we've made in working with, partnering with different segments of the industry,” Willey said during a telephone news conference. “It's very difficult to say the packer can't be in the feeding business, but the feeder can be in the packing business.”

PACKERS PART OF FARM BILL DEBATE

Two months ago, the Senate approved, 51-46, an amendment by South Dakota Democrat Tim Johnson to a wide-ranging farm bill that would prevent large meatpackers from owning or controlling cattle and hogs more than two weeks before the animals are shipped to slaughter plants.

An exception was allowed for packers who accounted for less than two percent of slaughter of an animal or cooperatives formed by producers to slaughter their animals.

NCBA, which held its annual meeting last week in Denver, voted to urge Congress to delete the language in favor of an amendment by Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig for a study of the situation.

The Craig amendment could be debated on Tuesday or Wednesday as the Senate finishes up work on a new five-year farm bill. The legislation sets policy for billions of dollars in federal spending on crop subsidies, farm exports, agricultural research and food stamps.

A farm bill written by the Republican-led House does not include a ban on packer ownership. The bills must be reconciled before a final farm bill can be sent to the president.

Some farm state lawmakers have repeatedly tried in recent years to impose restrictions on the handful of large U.S. packing companies that dominate the market.

BEEF CHECK-OFF PROGRAM

Monte Reese, chief operating officer of the Cattlemen's Beef Board, said U.S. cattle producers are also closely watching the outcome of a federal lawsuit in Aberdeen, South Dakota, that challenged the federal beef check-off program.

The mandatory check-off program is one of several commodity promotion programs authorized by the U.S. Agriculture Department. It collects $1 per head of cattle sold by beef and dairy producers to fund advertising and public relations campaigns to expand beef consumption.

“We continue to be concerned about the litigation facing the check-off program,” Reese said. “Whatever way the judge might decide, there could be an appeal which could go all the way to the Supreme Court.”

The lawsuit in South Dakota was filed by the Livestock Marketing Association and the Western Organization of Resource Councils. The judge heard arguments and testimony in the case last month and could issue a decision at any time.

RETURN TO HOME PAGE

E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com