Although at first glance, a book about the development of a fully vertically and horizontally integrated cartel controlling the raising, slaughter, and marketing of poultry, pork, and beef may seem dry, The Meat Racket author Chris Leonard tells a compelling story. He follows the rise of the Tyson family in the creation of the meat cartel in a balanced and non-inflammatory manner. Leonard concludes that the handful of companies which now control the production and marketing of all meats can set prices at will.
The disappearance of free markets in agriculture mirrors the disappearance of free and open markets in much of the rest of our economic lives. What Leonard chronicles in the rise of the Tyson family is the banality of evil when it aligns itself to our own petty self-interests. Meat is now produced in a system based on exploitation of everything it touches – the animals, the environment, the contract growers, the plant workers, and ultimately the consumers themselves.
My awaking to the growing threat to the competitive markets for beef came in 1987 when Benny Bunting, a disaffected contract poultry grower from North Carolina, addressed the annual meeting of the Northern Plains Resource Council. He concluded with this warning: "Do not allow yourself to become a serf on your own land."
The Meat Racket is a kind of requiem for the three decades of work and passion that I and many other staff and leaders of WORC have devoted to prevent the "chickenization" of the hog and cattle industries. We organized, we studied the complexity of the issues, and we came to the simple, elegant conclusion - rule - to save the integrity of the hog and cattle markets from what happened to the chicken market: forward delivery contracts for slaughter-ready beef and hogs must be publicly bid.
The rule
It received serious consideration by a number of academics and from U.S. Department of Agriculture leadership. In the end, it was not that the giants were too large and powerful for us to confront but rather that their minions, the "orcs" you might say, were so numerous and pernicious. After a long battle on many fronts, the rule has never been implemented. Instead, the vertically integrated contract meat production system has become even more entrenched.
Leonard ends his book with the dismal assessment that now that the vertical and horizontal integration of the poultry, hog, and cattle feeding industries is complete, it is not possible to restore the ideal of independent farmers selling their livestock in open competitive markets. For us ranchers and farmers this suggests we accept the fact that we will be nothing but the serfs of our corporate overlords. For consumers, it means higher prices, lower quality, and more safety issues will be our new normal.
However, even though meat, as a commodity, is firmly in the hands of the meatpacking "racket," they still do not control the market for local, natural, or organic meat. The opportunity for niche producers and for consumers interested in local consumption is viable and growing. The local market network may remain a fraction of the size of the commodity market, but it offers an opportunity for farmers and consumers to collaborate in quality food. That is scant reassurance, however, for most western ranchers because we simply do not have enough local consumers for all of the beef and lamb that we can raise.
But is it all over for us ranchers? It will be if we give up trying to restore free, public, and competitive markets for cattle and sheep. I am not ready to give up and I know many who feel the same as I. If you are interested in food, and concerned about how your food is raised and where it is sourced, you should read The Meat Racket. Then you should join us in the fight to restore free, public, and competitive markets for all agricultural commodities.
Gilles Stockton is a rancher from Grass Range, Mont., and member of the Western Organization of Resource Councils, a regional network of conservationists and family farmers and ranchers based in Billings, Mont.
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