Iowans react to meat industry investigation

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - The Department of Justice and Department of Agriculture announced they’re opening an investigation into the meat packing industry, targeting four companies that make up 85% of the market here in the U.S.

This is something Iowa lawmakers and farmers have been pushing for for years — as Iowa producers have been facing their own financial problems.

“At the end of the day, we just want to be confident that everybody’s playing by the same rules,” Steve Swenka, who runs a ranch in Tiffin, said. He sells his cattle to meat packers - where four companies dominate up to 85% of the industry.

“There used to be a lot more players in the game and so now it’s really becoming consolidated,” Swenka said.

This comes as, according to the American Farm Bureau, there are fewer cows and farmers every year -- this year reaching a 75-year-low for cattle.

“Even though the prices are kind of creeping up, the consumer hasn’t backed off yet,” Swenka said.

Senator Chuck Grassley has long been pushing for something like this.

“They have to reserve some room for the independent producer that wants to market on a daily basis and not contract ahead,” Grassley said.

A sentiment Swenka agrees with - he wants the system to protect American ranchers and the meatpackers they sell to.

”We’re thankful that we have an administration that definitely thinks there is merit into looking at antitrust violations, but on the other hand, it’s coming at a time where packers are actually losing money," Swenka said.

Grassley himself sponsored a bipartisan bill last year that would grant the USDA investigators to make sure packers are operating within the law. But his co-sponsor was voted out and that bill never progressed.