Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act”.
Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act
A BILL
To restore competition in the meatpacking industry by reducing excessive concentration and market power and ultimately reduce prices for American consumers, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Findings and purposes
Findings— Congress finds the following:
The meatpacking industry in the United States is highly concentrated, with a small number of firms controlling a dominant share of beef, chicken, and pork slaughtering and processing.
4 firms control 85 percent of the beef market and 67 percent of the pork market, which is up from 36 percent and 34 percent, respectively, in 1980.
4 firms control more than 60 percent of the market in chicken processing.
The scale and market dominance of large meatpacking firms create substantial barriers to entry and expansion for independent and regional processors, limiting competitive alternatives for producers and consumers.
This highly consolidated meatpacking market has real consequences for farmers, workers, and consumers.
Meatpackers have repeatedly used their market power in ways that suppress wages, destroy jobs through strategic plant shutdowns, and subject workers to extremely dangerous conditions while prices are to their advantage.
Extreme concentration in meatpacking has resulted in diminished bargaining power for independent producers, increased vulnerability to unfair and discriminatory practices, and reduced economic viability for rural communities.
Consumers are paying more for meat, with the Department of Agriculture reporting that ground beef prices have increased about 16.4 percent since last year. Meanwhile, increased revenue is not flowing to farmers and ranchers as—
in 1970, 70 percent of the consumer’s beef dollar went to cattle ranchers, but today, ranchers’ share of the consumer's beef dollar is closer to 30 percent; and
profits remain with the big 4 covered meatpacking enterprises.
The public interest requires competitive, transparent, and resilient markets for essential food products.
Purposes— The purposes of this Act are to—
restore competition in the meatpacking industry by reducing excessive concentration and market power;
prohibit and reverse mergers and acquisitions in the meatpacking sector that have materially lessened competition;
authorize and require structural separation, divestiture, or breakup of dominant meatpacking firms, where necessary, to restore competitive market conditions;
ensure that no firm retains or expands market power in United States food and agricultural markets through capital obtained by corruption, bribery, or other unlawful conduct;
deny competitive advantage derived from foreign state-backed or non-market financing that undermines fair competition in United States markets;
protect independent cattle producers from abusive, coercive, or discriminatory practices arising from excessive buyer concentration;
ensure that any restructuring of the industry results in safer, fairer, and more sustainable jobs for workers across the supply chain;
promote the growth and viability of independent and regional meat processors; and
help bring prices down for families in the United States.
Sec. 3 Definitions
In this Act:
Beef meatpacking market— The term beef meatpacking market means the market for cattle slaughter and beef processing in the United States, including the national beef market and regional beef markets.
Commission— The term Commission means the Federal Trade Commission.
Covered feedlot— The term covered feedlot means a feedlot with a capacity of 24,000 head of cattle or more.
Covered foreign-controlled meatpacking enterprise— The term covered foreign-controlled covered meatpacking enterprise means—
JBS S.A. and its affiliates; and
any other entity, as determined by rule by the Commission.
Covered meatpacking enterprise—
In general— Subject to subparagraph (B), the term covered meatpacking enterprise has the meaning given the term packer in section 201 of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (7 U.S.C. 191).
Rulemaking— Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall, by rule, define for purposes of this Act—
a de minimus threshold of volume or revenue below which a person shall be excluded from the definition of a covered meatpacking enterprise under subparagraph (A); and
the requirements that place a person under common control or in affiliation with a covered meatpacking enterprise such that the entity shall be included in the definition of a covered meatpacking enterprise under subparagraph (A).
CR4— The term CR4 means the sum of the market shares of the 4 largest firms in the relevant market.
Farmers’ cooperative— The term farmers’ cooperative means an organization exempt from taxation under section 521 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
Feedlot— The term feedlot—
means any facility that is used in its entirety or in part for the purpose of feeding livestock to be slaughtered, or to be sold for slaughter, by another; and
does not include feeding incidental to the sale or transportation of livestock.
HHI— The term HHI means the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, calculated as the sum of the squares of the market shares of all firms in the relevant market.
Line of protein— The term line of protein means livestock, livestock products (as defined in section 2 of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (7 U.S.C. 182)), poultry, poultry products (as defined in section 4 of the Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 453)), meats, or meat food products (as defined in section 1 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601)) in each of the following product categories:
Beef (including cattle slaughter, beef processing, and beef products).
Pork (including hog slaughter, pork processing, and pork products).
Poultry (including chicken slaughter, processing, and chicken products).
Any additional category, as the Commission may, by rule, designate to prevent evasion of this Act.
Market share— The term market share means the share of total slaughter or processing capacity, volume, or sales in the relevant market, as determined by rule by the Commission.
National beef market— The term national beef market means the market of the United States as a whole, or such broader integrated geographic market as the Commission determines appropriate, for the slaughter of cattle and processing of beef products.
Regional beef market— The term regional beef market means a geographic market defined by reference to the regional direct slaughter cattle reporting regions of the Department of Agriculture, or any successor system of regional delineation the Commission determines better reflects competitive conditions.