THEE Hot Barn Report!
Heard ONLY on American radio stations across the nation and online at hotbarnreport.com!!
Welcome to America’s Hot Barn Report now heard coast to coast and border to border
It is official, we have just confirmed our 12th reporting barn for the big fall run. We now blanket the great Northern beef belt from Motely, Minnesota to Torrington, Wyoming.
The Hot Barn Report is a fast paced and entertaining daily program covering the latest news and trends in the cattle industry, hosted by Monte James, a veteran rodeo announcer, radio host and industry expert! The Hot Barn Report features interviews with industry leaders, market analysts, producers and ranchers and features True Price Discovery from salebarns in Great Northern Beef Belt and across the nation.
“to assure fair competition and fair trade practices, to safeguard farmers and ranchers…to protect consumers…and to protect members of the livestock, meat, and poultry industries from unfair, deceptive, unjustly discriminatory and monopolistic practices….”
Welcome to this special Friday edition of the Hot Barn Report!
I just quoted an opening line from the Packers & Stockyards Act of 1921. That was a moment in history was Congress was keen on cracking down on anti-competitive behavior in the meat packing industry and made sure that no one was getting out of their lane by cross investing in other sectors. Stockyards were to be stockyards and packers were to be packers and they would meet in the middle, no pun intended, to create a competitive transaction environment.
The Congress of 1921 would probably like to take the Congress of 2023 over its knee and remind them of the principles this country was founded on. Now we have a Congress that is effectively trying to defund and deregulate the P&S division of USDA leaving the American farmer and rancher with little protections the laws were required to carry out. Seems pretty un-American!
Now, we have retailers becoming packers and competitive lines being blurred or erased because these global corporations know they can control Congress with signing of a check that leaves the door open for economic robbery.
Case in point, according to Walmart, Inc, they are investing $257 million in a beef processing facility to built in Olathe, KS. Kansas Govenor Laura Kelly is excited to welcome them stating, “this will further Walmart’s efforts in creating an end-to-end supply chain for high-quality Angus beef while increasing transparency and capacity in its supply chain to deliver high-quality products for its customers in the Midwest.”
But wait a minute, “an end-to-end supply chain”? If Walmart controls their entire supply chain, it means they are not competing in the greater supply chain! They just took themselves out as a competitor and placed themselves on the throne as the chief integrator. Now you will have to “comply” to be in their end-to-end supply chain! Now rural America will be stepping all over those “falling prices” because there will be less competition in the competitive market and possibly more input costs if you choose to integrate because after all you won’t be calling the shots. They will be telling you how to raise your cattle, with your money if you want a spot in their meat cooler. This is not how America was built!
But until Congress recaptures the essence of the Congress of our forefathers, rural America is in for the battle of it’s life, truly facing the giants!
America was built on competition like what happens at these Diamond Dozen Hot Barns: Stockmens Livestock, Lemmon Livestock, North Platte Stockyards, St. Onge/Newell, Platte Livestock Market, Tri County Stockyards, Torrington Livestock, Creighton Livestock Market, Bassett Livestock Auction, Mobridge Livestock, Ogallala Livestock Auction Market, and Presho Livestock. Catch them all on CattleUSA.com.
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Get the latest beef industry facts, statistics and stories showcasing the real ways your Checkoff dollars drive demand for beef here at home and around the globe. Visit drivingdemandforbeef.com
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