Holcomb KS

Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow is non-committal so far on cattle market reforms proposed by other senators trying to boost competition and prices to independent producers. A fire at Tyson’s Holcomb, KS facility in 2019, followed by the pandemic have together sparked outrage by many over the big price spread between fed cattle and boxed beef, but Stabenow is making no promises on reforms. ... Rea

On Thursday, Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow announced a hearing titled “Examining Markets, Transparency, and Prices from Cattle Producer to Consumer.” The Michigan Democrat, along with the committee’s ranking Republican John Boozman of Arkansas, scheduled the hearing for Wednesday afternoon. Cattle mark ...

Late last week, South Dakota Representative Dusty Johnson introduced the Price Reform in Cattle Economics Act. Johnson, a House Ag Committee member, said the bill would increase transparency in the cattle market, as well as improve risk management for producers and support new and existing meat processors ...

A new report unveiled by the American Farm Bureau Federation provides an in-depth examination of the causes and price implications resulting from extreme market volatility in the cattle industry. It also sets the stage to explore policy solutions ...

Last week, USDA released an update on its investigation of cattle markets. American Farm Bureau Federation Congressional Relations Director Scott Bennett said the report is looking at market price disparities. “In the report, USDA outlines exactly what has happened in the volatile cattle markets since the Holcomb fire in August of 2019, and the volatilities due to COVID-19. In a ...

The Livestock Marketing Association welcomes the expansion of an investigation into the beef markets. The association this week called for the investigation of beef packers to be comprehensive and expeditious. In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, the association says the investigation should “consider all potential anticompetitive” issues. Th ...

On Wednesday, Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that the USDA will look into allegations of price manipulation against the Packers and Stockyards. Perdue announced the investigation after mounting pressure from Congressional members that felt producers were not receiving a fair pay for their cows ...

Many in the Ag sector will be happy to say goodbye to 2019.  And at the top of the list is the livestock industry.  Mike Zuzolo, President of Global Commodity Analytics, said this year was not a good year for those with livestock.   “No it wasn’t, I mean, given the packer break-evens being in the hundreds of dollars for a lot of the time for cattle, and given the cash prices of hogs struggling to

Tyson will reopen a Kansas beef processing facility next month, following repairs prompted by an August fire that disrupted operations at the facility. This week, Tyson announced repairs at the Holcomb, KS facility are nearly complete, and efforts to resume beef processing are planned for the first week of December...