Back Burner, For Now --- But Not Going Away

The national debate over meat packer ownership has been put on the back burner for now, due to a spate of court cases and BSE concerns, but it is not going away.

Recent litigation that supporters and opponents consider a bellwether of debate is the recent jury ruling in favor cattle producers who sued Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc. over contracts and captive supply.

“I think this is a really exciting case . . . to the packer ownership argument,” says Mindy Larson Poldberg, director of national affairs for the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation.

“If it stands, it would prove that packer ownership does affect prices.”

Interestingly, regionalism figures into the equation. One reason the packer ban is moving so slowly through the halls of Congress, some observers say, is because the measure is less popular in the South, and Southern lawmakers head both the House and Senate Agricultural Committees.

Posted by Jim Langcuster at March 18, 2004 08:26 AM | TrackBack