Meat and Ag industry reacts to the Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is set to introduce the Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act that proponents say will lower meat prices for consumers, but is already being met with criticism. The legislation was created to break up meat processing monopolies and deter foreign owners of meat companies.
If passed, the act would force meat companies with product lines from more than one species to divest and limit their production to one species.
“This proposal is absurd,” said Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts. “Schumer’s bill and other efforts to villainize meat packers is simply reckless election year pandering that threatens to damage a crucial industry at the center of every American meal. If the senator is trying to make meat and poultry more affordable for consumers, this is the wrong approach. It will have the opposite effect. While this may be just a messaging bill to Sen. Schumer, it is real life for American families, farmers and ranchers and for the 3.2 million Americans employed throughout the industry.
According to the Meat Institute, the meat and poultry industry contributes $347.7 billion in added value; $205.3 billion in labor income; $911.7 billion in total sales and $77 billion in local, state, and federal taxes. Potts said this bill is more likely to incentivizes beef and pork packing to leave the United States for foreign countries.
“Such a foolish proposal would never even be considered in another industry,” said Potts. “Imagine the federal government mandating that Ford only manufacture trucks, while forcing them to sell off all their other vehicle lines to separate small businesses. It is unthinkable in a free market. They don’t even do that in Russia anymore.
“This is a dangerous fantasy—these facilities are expensive, hard to run efficiently and safely, and are part of a complex value chain. Who has the capital and industry expertise to buy and operate these facilities? Will the government approve and finance buyers? Will they help run the facilities to ensure the new owners can ensure worker and food safety? What happens if there are no buyers for certain facilities? What will happen to the thousands of workers, many who are union workers, whose jobs simply disappear? Who will process the animals raised by area farmers then?”
Potts said the legislation does not address the biggest issue, which is that U.S. has the smallest cattle herd in 75 years. It will take time to rebuild, which is the only way meat prices will be reduced.
“Minority Leader Schumer’s bill would only raise the cost of beef in grocery stores and lower the price of cattle—simultaneously squeezing consumers and ruining record markets for producers,” said Ethan Lane, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association senior vice president of government affairs. “U.S. cattle producers need access to adequate processing capacity to keep their operations running, and this bill would immediately create a processing bottleneck rivaling COVID-19-era processing disruptions. NCBA strongly opposes this anti-consumer and anti-producer legislation.”
Support for the act
Co-sponsors of the act include Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Peter Welch (D-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ed Markey (D-MA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
They say the Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act is “a competition driven, pro-farmer, pro-rancher, pro-worker, pro-consumer, cost of living bill that breaks up dominant meatpackers, reins in foreign controlled corporate giants, and uses all available tools to stop unfair pricing that drives up grocery bills for American families. It is designed to turn big structural reforms into concrete benefits: more competition and greater fairness for farmers and ranchers, more resilient supply chains, and lower prices and better choices at the meat counter.”
R-CALF USA released a statement with measured support for the legislation.
“Sen. Schumer’s legislation targets the same concentration problems that President Trump has also prioritized,” said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard. “President Trump directed the Department of Justice to investigate the nation’s largest beef packers for potential collusion, price-fixing, and price manipulation—and issued an executive order directing the DOJ and FTC to form task forces to determine whether beef prices are being distorted throughout the supply chain. Sen. Schumer’s bill similarly calls on the FTC to address concentration-driven distortions in retail beef prices.
“This bipartisan attention is exactly what is needed to spark a meaningful, nationwide debate on restoring competition in cattle and beef markets. R-CALF USA looks forward to working with both the administration and Congress to advance measures that ensure unrestricted market access, price transparency, price discovery and truly competitive prices for cattle producers and consumers alike.
“We will closely analyze Sen. Schumer’s bill, engage actively in the debate over its passage and potential improvements, and treat it as a serious proposal to address the broken market conditions that have harmed America’s cattle producers for far too long.”
Midterm election results could have a significant effect on whether the bill passes if Democrats take control of the Senate in November.
Lacey Vilhauer can be reached at 620-227-1871 or [email protected].
