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NCBA president disappointed in DOJ’s silence

The President of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is not pleased with the lack of information about the meatpacker investigation by the Department of Justice.

Don Schiefelbein says, “It’s hugely frustrating” and tells Brownfield NCBA wants to know what the Department of Justice has found so far. “You have a Department of Justice whose only purpose there is to make sure people are following the rules. We had questions on whether people were following the rules almost two years ago and have not heard a single word.”

Schiefelbein says, “If you look at the timeline that goes on here, producers have come and gone with their business models through the process of this investigation and it’s truly unfair to the producers to have to wait on a Department of Justice moving that slowly.”

NCBA’s Ethan Lane told Brownfield a year ago the DOJ doesn’t normally update stakeholders on investigations, but they asked for updates because of how the issues affect every beef producer.

Just last week, Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra also questioned why the department had nothing to report after two years of investigation.

The DOJ began the investigation after the Nebraska Cattlemen asked the agency to investigate the practices of Tyson Foods, JBS USA, Cargill, and National Beef in the April of 2020.

Schiefelbein spoke to Brownfield during the Wisconsin Cattlemen’s Association Summer Tour Saturday.