Meatpacker Ban Faces Uncertain Future
US - The last time Congress came close to stopping meatpackers from fattening their own livestock, the Iowa Pork Producers Association supported the proposed ban.
26 November 2007
1 minute read
“Our bottom line is that we acknowledge the right of all producers of any size or type of production to have market access and oppose anything that would hinder that market access,”
Eugene Ver Steeg of Inwood, a past president of the group.
Five years later, the Iowa group opposes the prohibition on packers, fearing it would upset the marketing arrangements farmers have made with processors.
Many producers say they like the certainty of raising livestock under contract with a packer. But promoters of the ban are trying to get it enacted as part of the next farm bill.
“Our bottom line is that we acknowledge the right of all producers of any size or type of production to have market access and oppose anything that would hinder that market access,” said Eugene Ver Steeg of Inwood, a past president of the group.
A provision inserted into the Senate’s farm bill would prohibit processors from owning or controlling livestock supplies within 14 days of slaughter.
The ban’s leading proponent in the Senate, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has long argued that packers drive down livestock prices by controlling supplies.
But he acknowledges that some producers’ attitudes on the issue have been changing.
Source: DesMoinesRegister
