PEORIA — There's a battle going on behind the meat case at your local supermrket – a battle over competition.
Sides are being drawn over the U.S. Department of Agriculture's plan to strengthen federal regulation of the livestock market. The USDA looks to beef up enforcement of Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration rules, first established in 1921.
Changes are needed before the beef industry is totally controlled by corporate interests, said Richard Oswald, president of the Missouri Farmers Union, speaking by telephone from Langdon, Mo.
"You can forget chicken and hogs. Family farms have seen that taken away from them. The corporate guys have those now. The cattle business is the final segment of the meat industry yet to be integrated," he said.
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