Lawmakers are scrutinizing consolidation in the meatpacking industry and a new congressional proposal could encourage more competition.
Representative Dusty Johnson has introduced a bill that has some bipartisan support. He spoke at a weekly Sioux Falls Rotary Club meeting today. Johnson says we’ve let big companies get massive.
“To me, a free market is many buyers, many sellers and I think a lot of this merger acquisition activity whether it’s in the tech sector, the cellphone sector, or the meat processing sector actually is injurious to the marketplace. I don’t think we should have four meatpacking plants control 85% of the market. I don’t think they even have to be nefarious actors for that to be dysfunctional.”
Johnson says the anti-trust bill will allow smaller meatpacking plants to expand their businesses.
The Biden administration has since launched its own initiative to handle meatpacking consolidation.