WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Biden Administration’s $1 billion investment in US meat production will not help the industry, according to the North American Meat Institute.
“For the third time in six months, President Joe Biden and his Administration announced the same plans to spend $1 billion to fund government intervention in the market in an attempt to increase prices livestock producers receive while blaming inflation on private industry,” said Julie Anna Potts, President and CEO of NAMI. “The Biden Administration continues to ignore the number one challenge to meat and poultry production: labor shortages. This tired approach is not surprising because they have refused to engage with the packing and processing sector they attack, going so far as to hold a roundtable on meat packing without a single beef or pork packer present.
“Press conferences and using taxpayer dollars to establish government-sponsored packing and processing plants will not do anything to address the lack of labor at meat and poultry plants and spiking inflation across the economy,” Potts continued. “The Administration wants the American people to believe that the meat and poultry industry is unique and not experiencing the same problems causing inflation across the economy, like increased input costs, increased energy costs, labor shortages and transportation challenges. Consumers know better.”
The Biden Administration has claimed industry structure is keeping down prices cattle producers receive for their animals, conveniently ignoring the fact the beef industry has changed little for almost 30 years, according to NAMI. Prices reflect supply and demand in a healthy market.
Since 1994, profit margins have varied between all sectors of the fed cattle market with no one sector benefiting consistently at the expense of another, according to NAMI.
And, according to USDA Data, fed cattle prices are rising on their own, without government intervention. Fourth quarter 2021 fed cattle prices are the highest in five years, even as wholesale beef prices have followed seasonal demand and decreased steadily since Labor Day, the end of the traditional annual high demand period.