Big Sky Times

A food group in Missoula and local ranchers are partnering to resolve beef processing bottlenecks created by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The collaboration aims to improve local processing facilities and establish a cooperative meatpacking facility. The industry is recovering from the pandemic, and prices are rising, while four major meatpacking companies are facing allegations of price-fixing and anti-competitive practices.

To ensure that ranchers have access to markets and that consumers have access to beef sourced locally, the cooperation intends to both expand the number of local processing facilities and enhance the efficiency of those that are already in operation. The group is also looking into the prospect of establishing a cooperative meatpacking factory in the area, which would be to the advantage of both the ranchers and the customers in the area.

“I think a lot of consumers now don’t know that, even if they’re buying local beef, it had to leave Missoula to get processed and then come back,” Erika Berglund, chair of the Missoula City and County Food Advisory Board, told NBC Montana. 

When the pandemic was proclaimed in the United States in March 2020, meatpacking and processing plants encountered challenges as a result of the spread of the virus among their staff. As a consequence, the speed at which manufacturing lines worked slowed down, and some plants were even forced to shut down. By the time May 2020 rolled around, about 4,200 meatpackers working in 115 processing factories across the United States were infected with COVID-19, according to the National Library of Medicine. In order to reduce the risk of the virus spreading throughout the facilities that were not shut down, preventative practices were put into place.

Even though the industry is starting to recover from the pandemic, prices are still going up. Allegations of price-fixing and anti-competitive business activities have been refuted by four large meatpacking businesses, known as the Big Four, as reported by The Hill. As a result, farmers, ranchers and customers are scrutinizing the corporations and have filed lawsuits against them because they allege that the companies' actions have artificially lowered the costs of animals while simultaneously driving up the prices of meat. 

In spite of these charges, the corporations have been reporting record profits over the past few years, which has led to an increase in skepticism as well as requests for stronger regulatory monitoring.