For the first time in six years, the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed this week that it is investigating antitrust concerns within the meatpacking industry, a development many Wyoming ranchers say is long overdue.
The investigation comes as cattle producers continue grappling with rising operating costs, shrinking processing options and concerns that a handful of giant corporations wield too much control over the nation’s beef supply.
“Wyoming ranchers are being squeezed from all sides,” said Wyoming Republican U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman. “The Trump DOJ is watching out for our nation’s critical independent livestock industry by cracking down on bad actors who threaten the survival of family ranches while pushing prices higher.”
At the center of the debate is industry consolidation.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, four companies — Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS and National Beef — control roughly 85% of beef processing in the United States.
Ranchers and agricultural advocates argue that level of concentration gives meatpackers enormous power over cattle pricing while leaving producers with fewer marketing options.
“Wyoming ranchers have always cared about who’s controlling the meatpacking sector,” said former National Cattlemen’s Beef Association president and Laramie County rancher Mark Eisele. “Is there collusion? Is there genuine competition?”
Eisele said cattle organizations have pushed for federal scrutiny for years.
“The National Cattlemen have been requesting an investigation all this time,” he said. “If there’s monkey business, let’s find out what it is and who’s behind it.”
‘It’s All Bottom Line'
Eisele’s concerns about “monkey business” in the meatpacking industry were echoed by many Lexington, Nebraska, residents Cowboy State Daily talked with in December ahead of the shutdown of that city's huge Tyson beef processing plant.
The plant closed its doors on Jan. 20, putting 3,200 meatpackers and processors in the town of about 11,000 out of work. The plant processed about 5,000 head of cattle a day, or about 5% of the nation’s overall daily beef production.
Armando Martinez, owner of Los Jalapeños Mexican restaurant across the road from the plant, said in December that the Tyson facility was “the heart of Lexington.”
He also said that for a community that’s given its blood and sweat to the corporation for 35 years, the then-pending closure was tearing the city's heart out.
At the Farmer’s Café just off the railroad tracks south of downtown Lexington, the regular morning coffee group was a little more blunt in questioning Tyson’s public reasoning that beef supply prompted the plant's closure.
The word “monopoly” was brought up multiple times.
“Bullshit,” Paul Bernston said about Tyson’s corporate claims. “It’s all bottom line, they don’t care about the actual people here,” he said.
Impact On Ranchers And Consumers
Wyoming cattle producers say consolidation doesn’t just affect ranchers. They argue consumers eventually feel it at the grocery store as well.
“The meatpacking industry has become increasingly consolidated, reducing market opportunities for Wyoming ranchers,” said U.S. Sen. John Barrasso. “Monopolies impact everyone from ranchers to grocery store customers.
"The Department of Justice investigation is an opportunity to expand market access for Wyoming ranchers.”
Wyoming Stock Growers Association Executive Vice President Jim Magagna has previously argued that when a few companies dominate processing capacity, they gain leverage over the entire supply chain.
Others point to what they see as a widening disconnect between cattle prices and grocery store beef prices.
“These corporations are the biggest reason why we are seeing the prices we are seeing,” Tyler Lindholm, a fifth-generation rancher and Wyoming state director for Americans for Prosperity, previously told Cowboy State Daily.
Referred to as the “Big Four,” the companies wield enormous influence over the market, Lindholm said, dictating pricing power throughout the supply chain.
Critics argue that dominance increases volatility while weakening the position of independent ranchers.
Small Processors Struggle To Compete
Not everyone believes large meatpackers are inherently bad for the industry.
“We need large meatpackers,” said Dennis Sun, publisher of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. “You’ve got to do packing at a high level to make money.”
Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation president Todd Fornstrom said smaller regional processors have struggled to survive amid mounting regulations, labor shortages and razor-thin margins.
“It’s just like every other business; the bigger ones survive,” he said.
One major challenge for smaller facilities is access to federal meat inspectors required for interstate commerce.
“One of the problems we have with the small meat processors is they don’t have access to the inspectors,” Fornstrom said. “It’s inefficient for an inspector to inspect five head of cattle versus 5,000 head.”
The lack of processing infrastructure has become especially noticeable in rural states like Wyoming.
Lindholm pointed to his hometown of Sundance in Crook County — one of Wyoming’s top cattle-producing regions — as an example.
“We’ve got beef on the hoof all around this town,” he told Cowboy State Daily previously. “Yet there isn’t one facility where local beef may be butchered for retail sale in the entire area. That’s crazy, isn’t it?”
“There’s only 7,000 people in this whole county, but I’ll bet there’s north of 100,000 head of beef,” he added.
Fornstrom said the problem extends beyond cattle to lamb, pork and poultry processing as well.
He recalled growing up on a feedlot that shipped sheep to three different meatpackers, including a Greeley, Colorado, plant operated by Mountain States Lamb that ultimately did not survive the COVID-19 era disruptions.
Push For More Local Processing
Some Wyoming advocates believe the answer lies in expanding local and regional meat processing capacity.
Lindholm has previously supported legislation allowing consumers to purchase beef directly from local ranchers, bypassing larger corporate processors and giving producers greater control over pricing and distribution.
Supporters say strengthening smaller processing operations could create more competition, stabilize local supply chains and help keep more food dollars in rural communities.
Others caution that building new facilities is expensive and complicated, particularly with federal inspection requirements and labor shortages.
Meanwhile, consolidation in the industry continues.
Earlier this year, Tyson Foods closed a meatpacking plant in Nebraska, raising additional concerns among ranchers who fear fewer processing plants will mean even more centralized market power.
For Wyoming ranchers, many say the DOJ investigation represents at least a chance for answers.
“I think most of us are going to appreciate transparency in this process,” Eisele said.
Hageman said protecting competitive markets will be essential to preserving the future of family ranching in the West.
“Wyoming ranchers deserve a fair and free market for their year-round labor,” she said. “The preservation of a free market will be America’s greatest remedy to reverse the declining trend in national cattle herd numbers.”
Kate Meadows can be reached at kate@cowboystatedaily.com.
