’—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 16,1981 >2- Beefing about monopoly ;onsumers are unhappy about ;f prices, farmers are unhappy >ut beef prices, and things are »ly to get a lot worse. )espite the fact that cattle iducers have been losing money ;ry month for the last couple of —■ —* —* —■ —* —■—■ —■ —■ —■—■ —■ —* —— Booth hsounoN Company “THERMAL INSULATION SPECIALISTS” Residential • Agricultural • Commercial • Industrial SPRAY ON - BLOWN IN - FOAMED IN PLACE Call Collect 1167 Snapper Dam Road 11 7 QQA 07CI) Landisville, PA 17538 111 'OiKrZ IDU EVERYONE NEEDS A VACATION PLAN NOW FOR NEXT YEAR JOIN OUR VACATION CLUB EARN K'A% SELECT FROM $ 1 - s 2- $ 3- $ 4- $ 5- $ lO- $ 2O PER WEEK CLUBS ff\ CBBIVB ynw u BLUE BALL NATIONAL BANK BLUE BALL 354-4541 Farm Talk Jerry Webb years, consumers still think beef prices are too high. Their loyalty to the great American favorite is being severely tested by pork, and especially by chicken and turkey. Meanwhile, those low prices m the feedlots are causing cattle - TERRE HILL MORGANTOWN 445-6741 256-5101 MEMBER OF FOIC INTEREST producers to cut back on production. And that means fewer animals going to market in the future and even higher beef prices. But if consumers and beet pioduceis die unhappy now, wait until they see what liea ahead. There are strong indications that a meat monopoly, particularly as it affects beef, is in the making and it could be so powerful as to call the tune for both cattle producers and consumers. Government agencies and Congressional committees have been taking a hard look at the meat business, especially the beef packers, to see if there is any unfair competition. While they haven’t developed a case that will stand up in court, there are strong indications that something mighty close to a monopoly already exists in the beef business. Consider this: The big four meat packers slaughter about two-thirds JAMES WAV barn cleaner Extra muscle Keep manure on the move ... up to 23 feet per minute. Rugged, long-life spur gear drive handles 700 ft. of loaded chain. Maximum chain strength too. Barn cleaner performance you can depend on. Every day. Year after year. See us for systems and service that help make the good life better. AGRI EQUIPMENT INC. DEPENDABLE MOTORS ROVENDALESUPPLY 2754 Creek Hill Rd Honey Brook, PA RD 2, Watsontown, PA 17777 Leola, PA 17540 215-273-3131 717-538-5521 717-656-4151 215-273-3737 I. G. SALES Rt 113. Box 200 Silverdale, PA 215 257-5135 G. HIRAM BUCHMAN, INC. Rte 519-N ottfcte 46 P O Box 185 Belvidere, NJ 07823 201-475-2185 of all the steers and heifers gomg to market in the 23 top beef states. Their share of those markets has increased from a little more than half only.a dozen years ago. And the top two, lowa Beef Processors and MBPXL (a Cargill sub sidiary), slaughter a third of all U.S. produced beef and that’s up from only 15 percent five years ago. One observer is predicting that these two firms will be handling 60 percent of the boxed beef market by the end of 1981. It’s obvious that a third of the market doesn’t consitute a monopoly on a national scale. But on a regional basis, the situation is much worse. In some livestock markets, one of these “big four” has the only game in town. In fact, the two biggies—lowa 'Beef Processors and MBPXL are expanding by leaps and bounds while third place hfmipv c i add SOLLENBERGER SILOS (IClflfT*. URrr RFD2,Chambersburg,PA RDI, Cams, Gap. PA 17527 717-264-9588 717-442-8134 HARRY L. TROOP Rt 1 Cochranville, PA 19330 GEORGE A. COLEMAN Rt #2, Box 216 Elmer. NJ 609-358-8528 215-593-6731 ERB& HENRY EQUIP., INC. 22-26 Henry Avenue New Berlmville, PA 215-367-2169 BENNETT MACHINE CO. 1601 S Dupont Blvd. Milford, DE 302-422-4837 Swift and fourth place Morrell are having problems. In the Pacific northwest, those top two com panies handle 65 percent of the beef going to market. Five years ago, they weren’t eveam business in that area. Here’s more proof of the con centration going on m the beef industry: s Fifteen of the top 25 feedlots m the country are associated with meat packing firms. They con stitute one-fifth of U.S. feedlot capacity. Government figures show 124,000 feedlots, with only 420 of them marketing over half of the U.S.’s total fed cattle supply. MBPXL is owned by Cargill, Inc. and Cargill is the world’s largest gram company. (Also the U.S.’s largest cattle feeder and the sixth largest commercial feed manufacturer. In addition, Cargill (Turn to Page D 3) I. A. SWOPE Box 121, RDI Myerstown, PA 717-933-4758 DETWILERSILO REPAIR Rt 2, Newville, PA 717-776-7533
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