EDITORIAL: Progress on beef industry problems?

Published 2:00 pm Monday, January 24, 2022

Cattle ranchers have been talking about the issues for several years. But few things attract attention as strongly as dollars and cents.

And with retail beef prices rising by 21% over the past year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, plenty of consumers’ eyes have been widened.

And now, it appears, the Biden administration has been roused as well.

Federal officials announced recently that $1 billion from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act would be diverted to try to deal with problems in the meat processing industry and to encourage the construction of smaller, regional packing plants.

This is precisely what many ranchers, including Curtis Martin of North Powder, and Matt McElligott, who lives between Haines and North Powder, have been advocating for. McElligott is president-elect of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, and Martin is a past president.

Both ranchers said that with four companies controlling about 85% of meat processing in the U.S., ranchers have little clout in setting prices for their product. And because building smaller meatpacking plants is both expensive and complex due to regulations, breaking that logjam is difficult.

Expanding processing not only could benefit ranchers financially, but it would give consumers more choices — including one that Martin said he hears often from people, which is the option of buying packaged beef raised, almost literally, in their own backyards.

The situation likely won’t be improved rapidly. But the Biden administration’s recognition that problems exist is a welcome initial step.

— Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald editor