BILLINGS, MT – Advocates for a fair, sustainable and healthy food system have released a report showing increasing consolidation in Montana’s agriculture sector. Economists say these conditions can lead to market manipulation. Farm Action’s report shows 85-percent of the beef raised on U-S farms, including in Montana, is produced by four companies: Cargill, J-B-S U-S-A, National Beef and Tyson Foods. Farm Action President Angela Huffman says that kind of concentration in the ag industry is happening all the way from farm fields to the consumer’s plate, and she warns it creates the potential for artificial price controls.
Consolidation in the livestock industry means more animals are raised in large confinement operations, where manure runoff can affect air quality, ground and surface water in rural Montana. Operators have said they’re researching more efficient and environmentally friendly ways to raise livestock while trying to keep up with growing consumer demand.
Huffman argues that monopolies can lead to collusion, price fixing and other types of market manipulation. Her group and others are urging lawmakers in Congress to address the issue in the pending Farm Bill.
The current Farm Bill, which officially expired last September, has been temporarily extended – although lawmakers have yet to agree on a new version of this major legislation.
