Cattle market continues search for a market fix
Michelle Rook, 24 May 2021
Cattle producers have significantly struggled over the last few years, and industry leaders continue to look for a solution to what they call a broken market.
The cattle industry continues to struggle to find a solution to what they call a broken market due to anti-competitive practices and market manipulation by the meat packing industry.
Cattle producers have significantly struggled over the last few years. In 2019, a fire at the Tyson beef plant in Holcomb, Kan., created significant market disruptions. In 2020, COVID-19 related plant closures led to additional supply chain disruptions and processing capacity shortfalls across the country. Department of Justice investigations into both incidents have not produced any results. Meanwhile, the industry is again facing a major disconnect between the record profits meat packers are making as a result of high boxed beef prices and the losses cattle producers are facing in the country with low cash prices. It appears plant labor shortfalls remain an issue.
Mark Korth feeds cattle near Randolph, Neb. He said the cattle industry has not seen any headway made on the issue over the last year to 18 months.
“Unfortunately, I don’t believe we are. It seems like zero progress has been made on the federal level. I’m getting so frustrated at this time. We’ve got to start fixing the issue. We just aren’t addressing it.” Korth says, “The packer margin is way too high again. We thought it was bad a year ago in the middle of COVID, and now it’s even worse.”
