By Sens. Chuck Grassley and Jon Tester As two farmers from rural America who moonlight as U.S. senators, we know that many folks who live in urban centers may be unfamiliar with how meat goes from farms and ranches in Montana and Iowa to grocery stores in New York or Los Angeles. But it requires only a brief look under the hood of the beef supply chain to diagnose the grave crisis currently facing American farmers and ranchers, and the growing threat of shortages for every American family who buys meat at the grocery store. Beef begins its journey through the supply chain at one of our nation's cow-calf operators, who raise cattle for the first nine months of the animal's life before transferring them to a feeder for fattening. When a cow is ready to harvest, they are taken to a processing facility -- or meat packing plant -- where they are slaughtered and packaged before the beef is shipped to grocery stores or exported. But in recent decades, the packing industry has become dangerously consolidated. Currently, only four large corporations control 80 percent of America's meat processing capacity, running massive processing plants and industrial feed lots. These corporate giants use their market share to drive down cash, or "spot," prices for cattle and then use those depressed prices to set formulas to buy cows from independent farmers, ranchers and feeders for dirt cheap, all while raising meat prices at the grocery store. And this problem started long before the pandemic, which has exposed the dangers of this consolidated industry by infecting thousands of plant employees, shutting down a quarter of our nation's meat processing capacity, making it more difficult for families to find meat at the grocery store, and jeopardizing our nation's food supply chain. The consequences are real. In the past 20 years, American families have seen meat prices more than double while prices ranchers are getting for their cattle have risen less than half that. You don't need to be an economist to know that when you have only a few corporations determining prices and the price at the farm gate is going down but the price of packaged beef is going up, you're not dealing with a capitalistic system. Now the pandemic has brought the industry to a crisis point. If the federal government doesn't act fast to help stabilize the market, America's small and independent cattle producers will go extinct. That means more industry consolidation, higher prices at the grocery store, economic destruction in rural America, and a vertical food supply chain even more easily crippled by a single accident or disaster. That's why we've introduced legislation to mandate the large packers purchase 50 percent of their cattle with "spot" pricing, which will make it harder for corporations to manipulate and depress cattle prices, and give cattle producers more opportunity to receive fair returns for their product. This won't solve the problem entirely, but it will help to provide badly needed relief to folks who are being squeezed by imbalanced markets and corporate greed. These cow-calf operators and small and medium-sized feeders are the backbone of our nation's food supply and the lifeblood of our economies in rural America. As farmers ourselves, we know producers don't want more regulation and they certainly don't want a bailout. All they want is the market to work, and everything from the cost of meat at the supermarkets in Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York to the livelihoods of farmers and ranchers in Manhattan, Montana and Brooklyn, Iowa depend on the Senate taking swift action to make sure it does.

By Senators Cramer, King, Rounds, Manchin, Daines, Smith, Barrasso, Tester, and Enzi "Agriculture is the economic engine for many communities in the Midwest, North East, and across the Upper Great Plains. Our agricultural producers play a critical role in feeding and fueling our nation, and also in our national security strategy. When we can produce affordable, nutritious food here at home, we don't have to rely on other countries to obtain it. Unfortunately, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is exposing several vulnerabilities to our nation's food supply chain. "Today, around 80 percent of the nation's beef is processed by only four meat packing companies, two of which are foreign owned. In the last few weeks, several of their processing facilities have closed because of COVID-19 outbreaks among their workforce. This highlights a chokepoint in our food supply chain. With fewer processing plants available to accept livestock, our farmers and ranchers have fewer outlets for their product. At the same time, American consumers are seeing shortages of beef, pork and poultry at the grocery store. "As we look to enhance additional markets for producers and consumers, one is immediately available. The New Markets for State-Inspected Meat and Poultry Act is a bipartisan bill which would allow meat and poultry products inspected by state Meat and Poultry Inspection (MPI) programs to be sold across state lines. Senators Rounds (R-S.D.) and King (I-Maine) led a bipartisan group of senators to introduce this legislation last year, and now we are urging our congressional leaders to include it in any future economic recovery measures. "This commonsense legislation would allow meat and poultry products that have been inspected by a Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS)-approved state MPI program to be sold across state lines. Right now, there are 27 states with inspection programs certified by FSIS that meet or exceed federal inspection standards. However, only six states are allowed to sell their state- inspected meat and poultry across state lines. "Under federal regulations, state MPI standards must be "at least equal to" federal meat and poultry inspection programs. For example, in South Dakota, state-inspected meat products such as beef and pork are limited to markets within South Dakota, despite being subject to inspections equal to or exceeding federal inspection standards. "This bill would level the playing field for producers of meat and poultry products while maintaining the highest quality standards for consumers. Since the state inspection standards are required by law to be equal to or better than the federal inspection standards, it makes sense to allow products that pass state inspection protocols to be sold across state lines. This legislation will create new markets for producers and processers, give consumers more choices at the grocery store, and continue to maintain the high quality and safety standards necessary to keep consumers healthy. "Farmers and ranchers in South Dakota, Maine, North Dakota, Iowa, Montana, West Virginia, Wyoming, Minnesota, and across the country consistently produce some of the highest-quality products in the world. This legislation opens up new markets for farmers and ranchers and will promote a more competitive meat and poultry processing environment. It will give smaller, state inspected meat and poultry processing facilities the opportunity to compete in markets throughout the United States. "As Congress continues debating ways to provide economic relief while bolstering our nation's supply chains, we will be seeking to get commonsense ideas such as this included in any potential legislation."