4/9/20

Republicans hesitant to call out donors who are screwing ranchers

Yes, this interested party was pretty much done with South Dakota politics but my youngest daughter has transferred to USD and expects to take the LSAT. The good news? With Bernie dropping out it looks like the blog got one thing right.

Live cattle prices are in free fall and boxed beef prices are soaring while consumers are hoarding but slaughterhouses are idling because of the Trump virus. Now vulnerable Republican candidates risk biting the hands that feed them. Meat packer Cargill has given big bucks to Republican Senators John Thune and Mike Rounds and to Governor Kristi Noem. Smithfield has a plant in Sioux Falls and Tyson has given Reich Mike Rounds a load of cash this cycle and contributes overwhelmingly to Republicans. Smithfield gets a wrist-slap from South Dakota's Republican-owned Department of Ecocide and Natural Ruination (DENR) nearly every year for discharging toxic pollution into the Big Sioux River. Last year it was a mere five figure sum. Workers there should simply walk out on strike.

Rounds says he wants a federal investigation into allegations of antitrust violations by packers and for Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (MCOOL) to be reinstated. Recall MCOOL was repealed during the second Obama term to shield American commodities from scrutiny because every ag product, meats both wild and domestic not grown organically in the United States and South Dakota is contaminated with atrazine, neonicotinoids, glyphosate, dicamba, DDT, mercury, lead, cadmium, PFAS, E. coli, Shigella, Legionella plus other toxins and pathogens.
The “Big Four” meat packers – Cargill Inc., Tyson Foods, JBS USA and National Beef – together control more than 80% of the nation’s beef supply. Meatpackers face growing scrutiny as farm-state lawmakers point to the large price disparity between live cattle and boxed beef. The packer/feeder cash margin spread for the week ending March 28 was $530 per head in favor of packers. A year ago, cattle feeders found cash profits of $150 per head the last week in March, while packers saw profits of $132 for a packer/feeder spread of $18 in favor of feeders. [Buffalo (Wyoming) Bulletin]

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