Beef news brings complaints about meatpacking industry into focus

With the cattle industry in the spotlight, attention has been drawn to long-standing beef that some ranchers have with meatpackers over allegations of price fixing and controlling the market.

For years, several ranchers have accused the “big four” meatpacking companies — Tyson Foods, JBS, Cargill, and National Beef — of using their market dominance to make profits while cattle producers suffer. However, others contend that the accusations are untrue and represent the free market at work. They say there is no price fixing or anything nefarious going on.