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Western South Dakota's Only Ranch Station
HURON, S.D. – Packer accountability and landowner rights are the focus of speakers and panel discussions during the 108th South Dakota Farmers Union State Convention. “We are here to fight for family farmers and ranchers,” said Doug Sombke, South Dakota Farmers Union President and Conde crop and cattle producer. “Ask most South Dakota agriculture producers […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Several large retailers and wholesalers (including Sysco, US Foods, Kroger, Hy-Vee, Albertson, Associated Grocers, Subway, SuperValu, and Cheney Brothers) recently filed claims similar to those brought originally in April 2019 by R-CALF USA and National Farmers Union (NFU) against the Big 4 packers. Those claims are that the packers’ efforts to jointly […]
NORTH PLATTE, NE — It’s long odds; starting up a 1,500 +head per day beef processing plant and expecting to stay in business. Cattlemen have tried establishing their own beef processing operations before, with limited success. New operations can’t bring to bear the economies of scale that the ‘big four’, owned primarily by Brazil and […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The questions have been pointed and some answers heated during a two-day hearing of both the Senate and House Agriculture Committees regarding market transparency in beef and other commodities. Questions of price fixing, inexplicable beef market price charts, and claims of an administration that is blaming the wrong people (packers) for the […]
HOLABIRD, S.D. — If you’ve been to the supermarket lately, chances are you have noticed meat prices are higher. Family-farm advocates say profits are not making their way to smaller cattle producers, and they urged federal lawmakers to not let up on market concentration reform. Lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle have been […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Cattlemen’s Association is all in. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says, maybe. For R-CALF USA, it’s not looking good. It points to the challenge of coming up with federal legislation to address diminishing price transparency in cattle markets, which most everyone agrees on. But how best to correct that […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The proposed Cattle Contract Library Act of 2021, sponsored by Representative Dusty Johnson, passed out of committee by voice vote this week. There is bipartisan support and can now be considered by the full US House. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) was the first to forward legislation last spring that would have included […]
BILLINGS, MT – A report on the impact of consolidation on cattle markets and the beef supply chain was manipulated using outdated and non-representative cattle market data. That’s according to R-CALF USA that is strongly refuting the 180-page document edited by Texas A&M University and released in June 2021. It was made available to the […]
DENVER, CO – After a deep dive into the second quarter numbers from the voluntary 75% Plan developed by the National Cattlemen’s Association (NCBA) to address concerns about thinness in negotiated trade across different regions, here is one of the findings: “Negotiated trade volume exceeded price discovery levels in all regions. There were no significant […]
HURON, SD – The South Dakota Farmers Union (SDFU) will be hosting its annual policy meeting July 22. Director Chad Johnson of Groton says they’ll be discussing drought impacts and cattle market competition during the virtual meeting. “I think we’ll hear a lot about the drought, issues with cattle, especially concentration in the packing industry […]
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