[Imc-newsroom] Beef monopoly

[Peter Miller]

OK--somehow, I've become an ag reporter.  I have an interview with Alva 
McDowell, with Farmer's Livestock, a cooperative livestock mareketing 
outfit in Greenville, IL.  His organization runs auctions for dairy cattle 
that are sent off for slaughter.  The sellers are dairy farmers, primarily 
(?) family farmers, and the buyers are the slaughtering operations and 
feeder operations (businesses that buy cows, take care of them for a while, 
then re-sell them).  The problem is that Smithfield Farms is about to 
become a monopoly slaughter operation:  they've proposed to buy American 
Foods, which would give them control of 98% of the dairy cattle slaughter 
market.  An auction with only one buyer isn't much of an auction.

Alva has a very interesting voice, and he explains things pretty 
clearly--it would make for an interesting story.  If someone else is 
willing to produce a story out of the interview, I'd also be willing to 
call Smithfield Farms and see if I can get one of their spokepeople to talk 
about the merger.

Here's an opportunity to report on corporate consolidation in agriculture, 
and to show the struggle between the small businesses and the 
megacorporations.  Any takers?

-Peter