Farm groups blast Trump competition rule as favoring meat giants MIKE DORNING Bloomberg News Some farm groups criticized a long-delayed competition rule the Trump administration announced in early December as favoring big meatpacking and poultry processors and leaving small farmers and ranchers vulnerable to unfair treatment in selling livestock. The National Farmers Union and R-CALF USA, both more closely aligned with smaller producers, said the regulations will make it harder to prevail on claims meat giants have abused their market power at a time
when four large corporations control about 80% of U.S. beef processing. They called on the incoming Biden administration to reverse the regulation, which will go into effect nine days before Donald Trump leaves office. The meat industry is facing increased scrutiny of its business practices, with the U.S. Justice Department earlier this year opening an antitrust probe of beef companies and bringing criminal charges against poultry-industry executives for price-fixing. Chickfil-A Inc., the leading U.S. chicken restaurant chain, sued major poultry processors earlier this month, joining Target Corp., Wawa Inc. and other companies 10 | 2021 Ag Journal - Winter
accusing them of a price-fixing scheme. Biden in his presidential campaign criticized the impact of agribusiness consolidation on farmers’ ability to get fair prices for their products, and pledged to strengthen federal antitrust enforcement and U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations on competition. Undue Preference The new rule clarifies what constitutes an “undue� preference by a meatpacker for one farmer over another in purchasing livestock under the 99-yearold Packers and Stockyards Act, passed after a federal investigation revealed market manipulation exploiting
