NORTHCENTRAL MONTANA — The U.S. Department of Justice says it is continuing to look into competition among major meatpacking companies and whether anti-competitive practices may be impacting the cattle market. The investigation centers on the so-called “Big Four” meatpackers, Tyson, JBS, Cargill, and National Beef, companies that control an estimated 85% of U.S. beef processing capacity.
For Montana Farmers Union President Walter Schweitzer, the announcement is welcome news, though he says concerns surrounding market concentration have existed for years.
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“Well, not a lot more than anybody else, because they didn’t really announce anything,” Schweitzer said. “They just said that they are investigating it and are looking into it, which is all good stuff.”
Schweitzer says the larger issue is how much market power is concentrated in just a handful of companies, something producer groups have long argued can limit competition for ranchers when it comes time to sell cattle.
The conversation comes at a time when cattle producers are still recovering from years of drought and historically low herd numbers.
“We have the lowest cow herd in 60, 70 years,” Schweitzer said. “A big part of that was drought. We shrunk our cow herd in 2022 and 2023 because of drought. But we didn’t rebuild a cow herd like we normally do.”
According to Schweitzer, rebuilding a herd is a major financial commitment that takes years of planning, land, feed, and investment. He says some ranchers remain hesitant to expand if they are uncertain about how competitive the market will be in the future.
“It’s the hesitation for cattle ranchers not sure if they want to invest the kind of capital it takes to rebuild a cow herd if they don’t know we’re going to enforce these anti-competitive practices,” he said.
While much of the national conversation has focused on the federal investigation itself, some producers and processors in Montana are also looking at ways to create more local processing opportunities inside the state.
In Havre, Montana Premium Processing Co-op has spent the last several years expanding its operation. The USDA-certified, member-owned facility was created to help Montana producers process and market beef closer to home.
General Manager Bill Jones says local processing gives producers more direct control over their product and allows them to maintain relationships with customers.
“They have access to their finished product and they also have direct access to their customer base,” Jones said. “They lose all the contacts. They lose all the controls over that product” when cattle leave the state for larger processing systems.
Jones said the co-op has seen increased interest from both producers and consumers in recent mon, particularly as grocery store beef prices have remained high. He says more consumers are turning toward purchasing beef directly from ranchers.
At the same time, Jones says local processing facilities are not intended to replace the national meatpacking system entirely.
“I don’t wanna demonize the Packers and say that they don’t have a place,” Jones said. “I think some sort of a balance there is what we really need.”
He explained having more smaller processing plants spread throughout the country can help strengthen the resiliency of the food supply chain, especially during disruptions or emergencies.
“If you don’t have some small plants… then when you have either a national emergency or a local emergency or any other type of situation, you have no resilience,” Jones said. “Your industry loses all its resilience.”
He also believes more local processing opportunities could help younger producers return to family operations by giving them additional ways to market cattle directly to consumers.
“The more of that that’s available, I feel like the more young families will be able to look at coming back to the family farm,” Jones said.
For Schweitzer, the broader concern is whether producers feel confident enough in the marketplace to continue investing in the future of the cattle industry.
“We need to just build a little trust in our marketplace so that the producers will be willing to invest,” Schweitzer said. “More importantly, the next generation would be willing to step into this very competitive, hard world to raise livestock.”
The DOJ investigation remains ongoing, and no final outcome has been announced.
