US Probes 85% Cattle Processing Concentration as Congress Weighs Curbs on Farm Market Power
Updated
Updated · American Ag Network · Jul 28
US Probes 85% Cattle Processing Concentration as Congress Weighs Curbs on Farm Market Power
1 articles · Updated · American Ag Network · Jul 28
Summary
Four companies handle 85% of U.S. steer and heifer processing and 67% of hogs, helping drive Justice Department scrutiny and new congressional proposals targeting concentrated agricultural markets.
Those concerns extend across inputs and logistics: the top four firms control 80% of soybean crushing, 61% of farm machinery, 70% of ammonia capacity and 60% of port elevators, fueling complaints about higher farm and food prices.
Farmer sentiment has reinforced the push, with a University of Illinois survey showing producers expect consolidation in major input sectors to raise the prices they pay.
Economists cited in the report caution that concentration alone does not prove market power; investigators must also assess barriers to entry, inelastic demand and firm behavior such as collusion, exclusion or anticompetitive mergers.
The broader policy debate is whether scale efficiencies outweigh harm: past meatpacking studies found only limited market power, with lower processing costs more than offsetting it for consumers.