U.S. Representative David Scott, who represents Georgia’s 13th Congressional District including part of south Cobb County, and who chairs the U.S. House Agriculture Committee, announce that the CEOs of the four major beef companies will testify at hearings scheduled about the rise in beef prices.

The announcement reads as follows;

House Agriculture Committee Chairman David Scott released the following statement announcing the participation of the CEOs of Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS, and National Beef Packing for the House Agriculture Committee’s upcoming hearing on cattle markets:

“I am pleased to announce that the Chief Executive Officers of each of the four largest meatpackers in the United States have agreed to testify at our upcoming Congressional hearing discussing cattle markets and price increases for consumers,” said Chairman David Scott. “It is very important, very vital, and very urgent that we hear the perspectives from the CEOs at these companies and get the full picture of why prices have gone up for consumers and down for ranchers.”

Chairman David Scott continued, “In addition to this panel of CEOs, we will be convening a panel of ranchers to hear what consolidation in the beef industry has done to their bottom lines and viability. We look forward to the variety of perspectives we will receive at this hearing and the clarity it will provide to our ranchers, our consumers, and to our nation’s food security.”

Background

The rise in beef costs is against the backdrop of inflation that is affecting grocery costs particularly.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that “Prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs increased 13.0 percent for the year ended February 2022, the largest yearly increase since July 1979.”

Here are a chart from the BLS showing the prices of a pound of ground beef over time:

A Wall Street Journal article attributed the rise in food costs to the “Higher costs for labor, freight and ingredients,” and went on to say these costs are “are reflected in rising prices, food industry executives said, so nearly all food is affected.”

Cattle ranchers have long blamed the meat-packing industry for paying low cost for cattle then showing high profits despite price increases passed along to the consumers.