With headlines like this, what else do you need to know?
JBS reports nearly $1 billion in profits in Q1 (from Meat and Poultry News May 11, 2022)
A friend from South Carolina called me last weekend and asked how cattlemen are holding up with what the packers are doing. The interesting part of that statement is that his family owns pork and turkey processing plants so he is not another cattleman crying about packer concentration in the food business.
I think we have been whining about packer concentration for so long that most people don’t even pay attention anymore. Consumers are about to get a real taste of the consequences of what this monopolistic control means for their family.
Not only did JBS have net profits of $1 billion in first quarter 2022, profits were $1.3 billion in the last quarter of 2021. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is reporting that beef prices have increased by 23% in the retail outlets around the country. In my opinion, if you look at what is actually happening to the price of beef it is closer to a 30% increase. The report also suggests that the cost of chicken has increased by 14% and pork by 10%. So why is it that live hog prices have escalated to record prices of over $1 a pound and live cattle prices have not changed at all?
I am asking the question that so many asked years ago: Why are the companies with a monopoly on the meat business invested in the “fake meat” world? The consumer will never demand alternative protein substances but will only move to them when forced to. We, as global consumers, have been fortunate to have those choices in front of us on a daily basis, but clearly the movement is afoot to remove our freedom of choice.
The big four meat packers of the world saw that whether or not demand would float to alternative protein substances, in my opinion, that global demand would move away from milk, meat and eggs.
Men and women who take care of God’s creations of land and livestock are the last bastions of freedom. We take the initiative to do what needs to be done instead of sitting back and asking, “What are you going to do for me?”
I could go on for hours about the monopoly that has occurred in the food business and how we need to do something about it. I am going to shout at the top of my lungs for everyone to hear: if the government was going to do something about conglomerates in the food business it should have done so in the 1970s when it first recognized what was happening. The only answer to fixing this now is for the consumers to take it upon themselves to shop with people who are local and share their vision for the future.
The stark reality is that most will not even hear or care about anything I am saying here until food is not available in the grocery store.
We need folks to understand is that we have crippled the entire infrastructure of fuel and food production. Take an honest look at what is impacting your family today. Ask yourself: Am I doing everything I need to do to protect my children’s future?
Editor’s note: The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not represent the views of High Plains Journal. Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.LoosTales.com, or email Trent at [email protected].
