Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer introduced the Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act, legislation which would “break up dominant meatpackers, rein in foreign controlled corporate giants, and use federal tools to stop unfair pricing that drives up grocery bills for American families and hurts workers, farmers, and ranchers.”
The Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act:
- Makes it unlawful for a major meatpacking conglomerate to control more than one major type of meat, forcing the biggest players to choose a line of business;
- Imposes hard caps on the concentration of beef markets at both the regional and national levels;
- If these thresholds are exceeded, the FTC must order targeted divestitures—selling off plants, facilities, or business units, or spinning off new independent firms—until markets are competitive again
- Directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to design and enforce divestiture plans, so the law delivers real structural change, not just fines that companies treat as a cost of doing business, while maintaining or improving employment, honoring collective bargaining agreements, and promoting safer and more stable workplaces for workers across the supply chain.
- Prohibits foreign leverage over the domestic meat market, empowering FTC to protect competition and national security;
- Links the bill’s structural reforms to kitchen-table prices by focusing on unfair and unjustly discriminatory pricing practices in retail and wholesale meat markets that hit independent and neighborhood grocers hardest;
- Authorizes the Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide financial assistance, loan guarantees, technical assistance, and other support to farmers’ cooperatives and small business concerns that seek to acquire, operate, or expand meatpacking plants or facilities divested under the Act;
- Makes failure to divest enforceable under the FTC act, backed by significant civil penalties.
R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard issued the following statement in response to the legislation.
“For decades, R-CALF USA has been rigorously fighting on behalf of cattle feeders and ranchers for free and fair competition in the cattle markets. We welcome Congress’s recent effort to address the competition crisis plaguing our nation’s cattle markets.
“Senator Schumer’s legislation targets the same concentration problems that President Trump has also prioritized. President Trump directed the Department of Justice to investigate the nation’s largest beef packers for potential collusion, price-fixing, and price manipulation — and issued an executive order directing the DOJ and FTC to form task forces to determine whether beef prices are being distorted throughout the supply chain. Senator Schumer’s bill similarly calls on the FTC to address concentration-driven distortions in retail beef prices.
“The administration and Congress are aligned: Both recognize the scope of the crisis facing the U.S. beef supply chain, which has seen the alarming contraction of the American cattle herd and a steady loss of the farmers who care for those animals.
The Meat Institute said the bill will destroy the meat packing industry, sending costs for consumers higher, and make doing business more difficult for livestock producers.
“This proposal is absurd,” said Meat Institute president and CEO Julie Anna Potts. “Schumer’s bill and other efforts to villainize meat packers is simply reckless election-year pandering that threatens to damage a crucial industry at the center of every American meal. If the senator is trying to make meat and poultry more affordable for consumers, this is the wrong approach. It will have the opposite effect. While this may be just a messaging bill to Senator Schumer, it is real life for American families, farmers and ranchers and for the 3.2 million Americans employed throughout the industry.”
Concerning the cattle industry specifically, Potts said “none of this changes the reality that the U.S. has the smallest cattle herd in 75 years. Consumer beef prices reflect the short cattle supply and high consumer demand. The Schumer bill cannot wish away the free market fundamentals of supply and demand. The ensuing chaos and likely significant drop in meat production will upset delicate supply and demand forces, ultimately forcing retail and foodservice to hike consumer prices for beef, pork and poultry. It comes at exactly the wrong time when food prices are already too high for many American families.”
“These actions would create uncertainty for livestock and poultry producers, especially cattle producers. Provisions of the bill would hit cattle feeders especially hard, putting some out of business completely. Costs would also be added to transport cattle to feedlots in other regions. And when the Schumer bill results in fewer beef packing facilities in this country, producers will be faced with less processing capacity, which will lead to a smaller industry. None of this encourages America’s beef producers to invest in their business and raise more animals.”
The text of the legislation can be seen here. A breakdown of each section of the legislation can be seen here.
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Senate Democrats/R-CALF/The Meat Institute
