Source: Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE, 7/10/15


Belief that the poultry industry’s tournament system is unfair to growers is becoming more widespread as advocates of “poultry growers’ rights” work to put their points of view before consumers.

This week, country singer Willie Nelson teamed up with Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat, in an op-ed piece in The Washington Post decrying poultry processors’ “take-it-or-leave-it” contracts and a “widespread culture of fear” that discourages the growers from complaining or trying to reform the system.

“The powerful meat lobby has pressured Congress year after year to block funding to enforce these rules,” Nelson and Kaptur wrote. “Today, farmers remain vulnerable to industry retaliation, discrimination and deception. A funding bill that would allow the USDA to protect farmers from these unfair practices has started to move in Congress, but the same powerful interests that stopped it before will not be far behind. Members of Congress need to hear from their constituents on this issue immediately.”

In 2010, USDA Secretary Vilsack held a hearing on abuses and anticompetitive practices in the poultry industry. More recently, the book, “The Meat Racket,” by Christopher Leonard, took aim mostly at Tyson for practices the author described as detrimental to contract farmers. Meat industry associations called the book a "hit piece."

For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.