R-CALF USA has submitted its overview of the current state of the U.S. cattle industry to the U.S. Departments of Justice and Agriculture. Justice and Agriculture are jointly investigating the current state of competition in U.S. livestock markets and other agricultural markets. This overview identifies the industry's unique susceptibilities to abusive market power; demonstrates with empirical evidence that there is systemic market failure in the U.S. cattle market; and provides specific examples of ongoing, abusive practices perpetrated by U.S. beef packers within the U.S. cattle industry.
R-CALF USA asserts that its submission provides Justice and USDA with ample justification to take immediate and decisive action to enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act and halt the beef packers' anticompetitive use of captive supply cattle to manipulate and control the U.S. cattle market.
According to R-CALF USA, the level of concentration that is disrupting the cattle industry's competitiveness is not limited to the high concentration in the beef packing industry, where the four largest beef packers now control over 85% of the fed cattle market. R-CALF's report points to four additional areas that should be studied closely. According to R-CALF, this multi-faceted industry concentration has left the U.S. cattle industry in a precarious position, which R-CALF USA calls a serious crisis.
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