After giving credit to Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture Blayne Arthur for sending a letter to the Department of Justice to do something about the packer monopoly, I called Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association to see where they stood.
And I was pleased to hear that they had sent a letter in April 2020 to the DOJ calling for a quick and thorough investigation into the meatpackers. Most recently OCA has continued to call upon completion of the investigation or, at minimum, an update on DOJ progress.
We are at a very critical point to where we need all of the large groups that have agriculture ties to stand up for the individual cattleman.
I personally do not feel that we should have a foreign country own a big share of our food source. If I had the power I would break them up like they did on AT&T. They should give them six months to have these foreign-owned processing plants or anything that controls our food to get it to where they only own 50% as a foreign ownership. Then the next six months to get it down to 10% maximum for a foreign country.
We should be waking up to a lot of things made overseas like the chips going into our new vehicles. They say that is what is keeping these new vehicles from being built. I liked the approach Trump had—build it in America. They might have cheaper labor but put a tariff on their products to help us compete or better yet thrive. They would do that to us, don’t worry.
Editor’s note: Jerry Nine, Woodward, Oklahoma, is a lifetime cattleman who grew up on his family’s ranch near Slapout, Oklahoma.
