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Iowa ag secretary says beef producers deserve answers following fire

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue has directed the USDA’s Packers and Stockyards Division to investigate the recent beef pricing margins following the fire at the Tyson beef plant in Holcomb, Kansas.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig says beef producers deserve answers.  “When you have fire and you take a plant down and yet you see a surge in harvest capacity and then a dropping of live prices and then a surge in the value of boxed beef – there’s a concern with what is happening with packer margins,” he says.  

He tells Brownfield he’s happy the USDA is digging into the situation and looking for any evidence of price manipulation, collusion, restrictions of competition, or other unfair practices.  “The first thing we should do is inform ourselves with the data that is available,” he says.  “I think that’s exactly what they’re going to do now is have the chief economist look into the historical view of these various prices and margins and then go from there.”

Naig and state directors of agriculture from Missouri, Indiana, and Michigan met with Secretary Perdue during this week’s Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois.  

AUDIO: Mike Naig, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture

  • That is the name of the game with more burrocratic control . The more laws we get the less justice we find . We have to pass more laws to protect the health of the people .than there is collusion to eliminate competition to protect the bottom line . Until everything is priced at more than the traffic can bear .Than we more pass laws , So we are forced to buy those services die or go to jail . How else could we get pills that cost pennies to manufacture sell for 400 dollars . Oh we must pay the price because they might stop inventing new pills .

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