More Progress on Fairness in Meat

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is on its way to completing the last major step in the Biden-Harris Administration’s plan to promote competition in agriculture: reining in unfair practices in the meat sector. USDA’s latest proposed rule under the Packers and Stockyards Act would ensure that farmers are paid the full value of their products and open up opportunities for responsible meat producers to reach more consumers.

The average American eats over three times more meat than the global average, and our environment and health are hurting as a result. Conventionally produced meat – i.e. meat from animals that live a significant portion of their lives in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), eating a chemical-intensive diet of corn and soy laced with antibiotics – has an outsized climate footprint, pollutes waterways and land, and is not considered beneficial for human health when eaten in the quantities common in the United States. 

The CAFO model for meat production has proliferated in part because of market consolidation. Just a handful of companies control the vast majority of the meat sector; with so few companies competing, buyers can get away with setting prices that deny producers the full value of their products – a practice that USDA’s proposed rule would clarify is unfair, and therefore illegal under the Packers and Stockyards Act. 

The U.S. beef market alone was $136 billion in 2021, but farmers and farm workers see just a sliver of that, even as the prices consumers pay at the checkout counter rise. Dominant meat companies are using their outsized power to make everyone else pay (and pocket the profits).

In addition, when buyers control the marketplace, they make it nearly impossible for producers whose prices do reflect the true costs of production to compete. Organic meat, for example, comes from animals raised on feed that is grown without synthetic pesticides like neonicotinoids, avoiding widespread water pollution and wildlife harms. However, many of these responsible meat producers lack access to reliable processing infrastructure and struggle to find processors and retailers that will pay a fair price. So, while consumers are increasingly looking for ways to shift toward environmentally responsible diets, they have less access to these products than they would in a truly competitive marketplace. 

President Biden’s comprehensive Executive Order on competition in the U.S. economy set the stage for significant changes in our food system, and USDA is close to delivering on its final promise. Let USDA know that you support fair markets for meat by commenting here by August 27, 2024.