‘RED IN TOOTH AND CLAW’: White House unveils $1 billion plan to lower meat prices and boost consumption
American Rescue Plan Funds will will give farmers and ranchers more and better options. The plan aims to lower meat prices for consumers and boost competition.
YAEL BIZOUATI-KENNEDY: The White House announced its “Action Plan for a Fairer, More Competitive, and More Resilient Meat and Poultry Supply Chain,” a $1 billion investment of American Rescue Plan Funds to finance and support independent processing projects “that will give farmers and ranchers more and better options”. The plan aims to lower meat prices for consumers and boost competition, according to a statement…
According to the fact sheet, some of the steps the administration will take include increasing competition and creating more options for producers and consumers in the near term by jump-starting independent processing projects that will increase competition and enhance the resiliency of the food supply chain, for which the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will provide gap financing grants totaling up to $375 million; $150 million to jump-start 15 projects, focused on deploying financial support for projects with the greatest near-term impact, as well as an additional $225 million to support additional projects in Summer 2022; to $275 million to strengthen the financing systems for independent processors; and $100 million in reduced overtime inspection costs to help small and very small processing plants keep up with unprecedented demand…
Meat and poultry prices are now the single largest contributor to the rising cost of food people consume at home. Indeed, the November Consumer Price Index data, released Dec. 10, shows that meat prices are still the single largest contributor to the rising cost of food people consume at home. Beef, pork, and poultry price increases make up a quarter of the overall increase in food-at-home prices last month, according to the plan’s fact sheet.
“Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism; it’s exploitation,” President Joe Biden said on Monday, Jan. 3, at a virtual meeting with family and independent farmers and ranchers, according to the transcript of his remarks. “That’s what we’re seeing in meat and poultry — in those industries — now. Small, independent farmers and ranchers are being driven out of business”…. Biden added that four big corporations control more than half the markets in beef, pork and poultry and that without meaningful competition, farmers and ranchers don’t get to choose who they sell to, according to the transcript. SOURCE…
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