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AMI Vows To
Fight Packer Ban
WASHINGTON, DC Verti
cal integration and strategic alli
ances used in many American in
dustries should not be made
illegal for meat packers, accord
ing to the American Meat Insti
tute (AMI), for such an action
will turn the clock back on indus
try progress and the quality pro
vided to consumers.
AMI President J. Patrick Boyle
vowed to fight efforts to ban
packers’ ability to own and con
trol livestock when he delivered
testimony today before the Sen
ate Committee on Agriculture.
“We will oppose any effort to
restrict meat packers who comply
with existing antitrust and fair
business practice laws from
sourcing their raw materials in
any way,” said AMI President J.
Patrick Boyle. “It is unfair to
make it illegal for the meat in
dustry to compete effectively
with the vertically integrated
poultry industry and many other
vertically integrated industries
for the consumer’s dollar.”
In addition to federal antitrust
laws like the Sherman and Clay
ton Act, meat packers are also
subject to the Packers and Stock
yards Act, a statute unique to the
meat industry.
“To my knowledge, there is no
other sector of the U.S. manufac
turing or service economy in
which government plays such a
watchdog role with respect to
raw material suppliers,” Boyle
said.
According to Boyle, consumers
want consistent product quality
at the lowest possible price. Con
sumer demand has led to fewer
smd larger retail chains in fields
as diverse as home improvement,
video rentals, food and consumer
products and fast food.
“Just ask anyone who supplies
products to Wal-Mart or McDon
alds what this means: it means
you must meet their standards or
you can’t sell to them,” he said.
“This is the way business is
done today and the meat indus
try should be no exception.”
lowa-based Winnebago and May
tag are two examples of compa
nies that have used vertical inte
gration to provide high quality
products, he noted, as is Gateway
computers, founded by an lowa
cattleman.
Boyle told lawmakers that the
meat industry has done many
things including increasing coor
dination with livestock producers
and even owning some livestock
to ensure that meat products
meet consumer expectations.
As a result of strategic alii
ances, packers today sell beef
that is 27 percent leaner than it
was in the 1980 s and pork that is
31 percent leaner. Coordination
and vertical integration also have
created beef and pork products
that are increasingly convenient
and consistent, and many are
value-added with features like
marinades and sauces added to
fresh, branded products.
Consumers spend far less of
their disposable income on meat
than they did 30 years ago,
according to Boyle: 1.9 percent of
disposable income, compared to
4.1 percent in 1970.
“This is a trend of which we
are proud and one that provides
consumers a distinct benefit,” he
said. We should not rush to undo
the foundations of this success
without understanding the rami
fications for everyone involved.”
“The benefits to farmers were
perhaps most vivid during the
hog market crash of 1998, when
spot market prices for an unanti
cipated over-supply of hogs
dropped to as low as $9 per cwt.
Those hog farmers with contracts
had locked into much higher
prices for their hogs generally
$35 and more per cwt and were
protected from the low market
prices,” Boyle said.
“Packers with contracts, on the
other hand, were obviously pay
ing far over the market value for
their hogs at the time. Both par
ties to the contract, however, ben
efited from the certainty pro
vided by a steady, consistently
priced, contracted supply of
hogs.”
Crop Research Highlights Penn State Field Day
ROCKSPRING (Centre Co.)
Penn State’s College of Agri
cultural Sciences will reveal the
latest advances in fanning here
at its annual Crop Management
Field Day, Tuesday, July 23 at
the Russell E. Larson Agricultur
al Research Center.
Research into cultivation tech
niques, new varieties, and pest
management systems will be
presented by college faculty.
“This is an opportunity for
crop producers, ag industry folks
and others to see some of the re
search underway at the research
farm,” said Gregory Roth, associ
ate professor of agronomy in the
crop and soil sciences depart
ment. “They also can interact
with Penn State crop specialists
from various departments.”
Research will be featured on
four one-hour tours running se
quentially from 9:30 a.m.-3:30
twice, and individuals will have
an opportunity to attend all four
tours.
The corn research tour will
demonstrate hybrid testing for
com silage, polymer com seed
coatings, twin row com planting
techniques, and strategies for
evaluating hail damage effects on
silage com.
The tillage, Bt, and white mold
tour will present research on zone
till com, Bt com hybrids and
their isolines, and white mold
and weed management in soy
beans.
The fertility and soil quality
tour will highlight studies on
popup and alternative starter fer
tilizers for com on high P soils, as
well as nutrient cycling and crop
rotations and soil biological activ
ity.
The weed management
tour will focus on predict
p.m. Each tour will be conducted ing weed emergence with
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PDMP Members Meet On Large Dairy Farms
Frey Dairy Farm Meeting Set For Aug, 8
SPRUCE CREEK (Hunting
don Co.) About 130 dairy pro
ducers and professionals gath
ered here recently for one of a
series of membership meetings
sponsored by the Professional
Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania
(PDMP.)
Wayne and Maijorie Harpster
and their three sons, Abe, Aaron,
and Andy, hosted the meeting on
their dairy, Evergreen Farms Inc.
This operation features a herd of
more than 2000 cows. The
Harpster family shared their
story of growth and transition of
management and ownership be
tween generations.
Gary Snider from Farm Credit
of Western New York also spoke
on “Bringing the Next
Farmers Union Members
Testify On Livestock Concentration
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Farmers Union members Paul
Jackson of Ringling, Okla., and
Nolan Jungclaus of Lake Lillian,
Minn., testified before the U.S.
Senate Committee on Agriculture
today about livestock concentra
tion negatively impacting their
farming and ranching operations.
The hearing focused on the
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
enforcement of the Packers and
Stockyards Act, and specifically
explored a proposed ban on
packers owning livestock more
than 14 days before slaughter.
Generation into Management
and Ownership,” sharing tips
and resources that will help pro
ducers plan together for them
selves and the future.
More on this meeting is sched
uled to appear in the Dairy Plus
booklet in Lancaster Farming’s
Sept. 21 issue.
The next membership meeting
for PDMP is scheduled for Aug. 8
at Frey Dairy Farm, Inc. in Con
estoga, Lancaster County. This
meeting will offer some practical
tips for “Working Together:
Building Employee Communica
tion” Producers will leam how
Tom Frey put together a team of
four managers and how they con
tinue to work through their dif
ferent management styles and
communication challenges. At-
As an independent grain and
livestock producer, Jungclaus
testified that concentration in the
livestock industry, spearheaded
by meatpackers who own and
feed their own livestock, is “suck
ing the lifeblood out of rural com
munities.”
Jungclaus spelled out the need
for action and not additional
studies on the concentration
issue. “A study will do nothing
for family farmers while allowing
the packers the opportunity to
control the rest of the hog indus
try and an increasing share of the
beef industry until there is noth-
GDDs, spatial weed manage
ment, herbicide screening, and
glyphosate and weed shifts.
The Larson Agricultural Re
search Center is located at Rock
spring, nine miles southwest of
State College on Rt. 45. The field
day is open to the public. Regis
tration will be $lO and includes
lunch. Attendees can reserve a
space by calling (814) 865-2543
or by sending e-mail to
lacB@psu.edu. The day offers a
total of four credits toward certi
fied crop adviser (CCA) certifica
tion programs for professional
agronomists.
tendees will also have an oppor
tunity to talk with each of the
Frey dairy managers.
For those with smaller dairies
and family labor, Rich Stup,
Penn State Dairy Alliance, will
add some insight on “Commu
nicating with Family Employees
and Managers.”
Cost for the meeting is $lO for
PDMP members, $5O for non
members. The program runs
from 8:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Lunch is included.
Reservations are required.
Please send payment and RSVP
by July 31 to Tammy Perkins:
324 Henning Building, University
Park, PA 16802 or call toll free at
(888) 373-7232, fax at (814)
865-4686, or email at
taplO@psu.edu.
ing left for the American farmer
except raising the owner’s live
stock for them on contract,” he
said.
“I don’t need a study to see the
impact that consolidation has on
Bob Hall who owns our local gas
and grocery store and is forced to
live on ever-tightening margins
as packers and large retailers
work together to eliminate com
petition,” Jungclaus said. “And, I
don’t need a study to show me
that the hardships our local busi
nesses face directly impact our
church offerings and the tax base
that supports our schools and
hospitals. It is time to take action
and pass the ban on packer own
ership of livestock.”
Jackson, a' fodtth-gflieratfoii
farmer who runs Stocker cattle in
south central Oklahoma, told the
Committee that meatpackers,
which already control up to 80
percent of the processing, have
been able to undercut market
competition by owning cattle and
staying out of the cash market for
extended periods of time.
In addition to a ban on packer
ownership of livestock, Jackson
said Congress must modernize
the Packers and Stockyards Act
to work in today’s cattle market
to provide real protections for ag
riculture producers.“ Livestock
producers, better than anyone,
know how to produce top quality
cattle, but they require open,
transparent and competitive
markets to benefit from their pro
duction,” said Jackson.
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