A Panel Is Formed On Meatpacking

By Bloomberg Business News

Feb. 15, 1996

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Dan Glickman, Agriculture Secretary, appointed a panel today to determine whether large meatpackers use their market power to hold down prices for cattle and hogs.

Mr. Glickman named the 21-member panel after a $500,000 Agriculture Department study failed to come up with evidence that large companies manipulate prices. Mr. Glickman said the study did not go far enough.

Some farmers and ranchers have contended that declining prices cannot be explained by market forces alone. They blame the increased concentration of large meatpackers.

In releasing an 85-page report on the study, Mr. Glickman said it "does not definitively answer the questions and concerns of producers and others about the potential effect of concentration in agriculture."

The advisory panel, which includes eight livestock farmers and two officials from big meatpacking companies, will give the Agriculture Department "a more balanced view" from people with a practical knowledge of the industry, he said.

A version of this article appears in print on , Section D, Page 2 of the National edition with the headline: A Panel Is Formed On Meatpacking. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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