There’s only two meat packers… two. Where are the cattle farmers to go? It’s like this across the industry thanks to monopolies like ConAgra, Tyson’s, etc.

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mlrtime 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

There are many many meat packers, or you just mean two big ones?

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reactordev 3 hours ago | parent [-]

“The U.S. meatpacking industry is dominated by the "Big Four"—Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS, and National Beef—which control 80-85% of the beef market and significant portions of poultry and pork”

	▲	tbyehl 11 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		It's so much worse for poultry. My state and the bordering states represent more than half of US production and there's exactly one USDA facility available to independent producers. They're quite small and the cost approaches today's retail price for a whole Tyson chicken. There are USDA exemptions for tiny producers (up to 20K/yr vs 150K+ for a single modern broiler house) to slaughter and package themselves for in-state sales but anyone operating under one of those exemptions won't be able to grow that business large enough to self-finance constructing their own USDA-monitored facility.

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autoexec 11 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Breaking up monopolies and giving farm workers strong unions would go a long way to improving the situation.