Fischer Requests Department of Justice Investigate Potential Illegal Practices By Beef Packers

Today, U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, led a bipartisan group of 18 of her Senate colleagues in writing a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice requesting that the department investigate potential anticompetitive activities in the highly concentrated beef packing sector.

“Recent pricing discrepancies between fed cattle and boxed beef are pushing cattle producers and feeders to the brink…Cattlemen across America seriously question the ability for their children to take over what are frequently multi-generational family-owned operations that serve as the engines for their communities and our country’s food supply,” the letter reads. “It is critical for the DOJ to act expediently to investigate these concerning circumstances.”

Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson said he shares the concerns expressed by Senator Fischer regarding the past and current business practices of the meatpacking industry.

“The Nebraska Department of Justice has an important responsibility to ensure that anti-competitive conduct impacting the cattle industry and Nebraska consumers not be allowed in our state. My fellow attorneys general and I will fulfill our duty to investigate, and fully prosecute, if an investigation reveals that certain companies in the meatpacking industry are not properly complying with our laws that prohibit anti-competitive behavior,” said the Nebraska Attorney General.

Nebraska Cattlemen President Ken Herz also weighed in.

“COVID-19’s impact on the cattle market has reignited concerns that surfaced following the 2019 beef packing plant fire. These concerns continue to focus on extreme market deteriorations that repeatedly take place for the production segments of the beef industry that are closely followed by rapid increases in boxed beef values,” said Herz.

Full text of the letter is available here.