{"id":2025244,"date":"2023-09-07T21:31:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-08T01:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-advocate-for-agricultural-freedom-and-a-congressman-say-the-prime-act-will-decentralize-the-brittle-oligopoly-over-locally-raised-meat\/"},"modified":"2023-09-07T21:39:55","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T01:39:55","slug":"in-depth-advocate-for-agricultural-freedom-and-a-congressman-say-the-prime-act-will-decentralize-the-brittle-oligopoly-over-locally-raised-meat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-advocate-for-agricultural-freedom-and-a-congressman-say-the-prime-act-will-decentralize-the-brittle-oligopoly-over-locally-raised-meat\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocate and Congressman support PRIME Act to break meat oligopoly."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fin-depth-advocate-for-agricultural-freedom-and-a-congressman-say-the-prime-act-will-decentralize-the-brittle-oligopoly-over-locally-raised-meat%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2025244&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div data-post-content=\"true\" class=\"post_content\" id=\"post_content\">\n<p>A Texas farmer and advocate for agricultural freedom is bringing attention to a bill\u2062 that would bypass government constraints over the selling of locally \u2064raised meat.<\/p>\n<p>Grace Leake, who goes by the moniker The Shepherdess on her media platforms and webpage, is promoting the passage of\u2062 the <strong>PRIME (Processing, Revival, and Intrastate\u2064 Meat Exemption) Act<\/strong>, which would remove sales restrictions \u2062on meat processed at custom-exempt facilities.<\/p>\n<p>Leake \u2062raises Dorper sheep on the 30-acre Harmony Farms in \u200dNortheast Texas.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Related\u200c Stories<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/article\/china-mandates-covid-zero-policy-shenzhen-people-desperate-for-food-4315076\">China Mandates COVID-Zero \u2064Policy \u2064in Shenzhen; Locals Struggle to Source Food<\/a> (3\/5\/2022)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/southern-california-rancher-refuses-to-vaccinate-his-cattle-makes-so-much-money-off-vaccine-free-beef-5435963\">Southern California Rancher Refuses to\u200d Vaccinate His Cattle, Makes\u2064 \u2018So Much \u200cMoney\u2019 Off\u200c Vaccine-Free Beef<\/a> (7\/31\/2023)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Her entrepreneurial venture into farming \u200darose when she witnessed a significant problem with\u200c the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-releases-list-of-president-trumps-accomplishments-and-it-is-historic\/\" title=\"White House Releases List of President Trump\u2019s Accomplishments \u2013  And It Is Historic!\">food supply<\/a> chain \u2063uncovered by the COVID lockdowns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was seeing two different headlines side-by-side,\u201d Leake told The Epoch Times. \u201cI \u200bwas seeing the headline on grocery stores running out of food right beside headlines saying major processing plants were having to euthanize millions of \u2063pounds worth of beef and pork because they can\u2019t quite stretch through a bottleneck, and \u200bI realized we didn\u2019t have a shortage, but a systemic\u200d crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The production, \u200cprocessing, and distribution of meat are handled by major\u200d companies that small \u2062ranchers call the \u201cBig \u200dFour\u201d: Tyson, JBS, Cargill, and National Beef.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode post-related-videos\">\n<div class=\"lazyload-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"lazyload-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cAnd when you\u2062 tell four companies to close down for two weeks, you\u2019re essentially putting 85 percent of our nation\u2019s food supply on hold, and that\u2019s when I\u2063 saw a need to decentralize and localize food sources,\u201d Leake said. \u201cI\u2063 jumped in with both feet. I knew I\u2064 couldn\u2019t solve the problem for the\u2064 whole world, but if I could at \u200dleast provide \u200dfor my family \u2063and local community,\u2062 I would\u2064 give it a try.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In her planning, Leake ran the numbers and found it more profitable to raise \u2063sheep rather than beef.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter coming to an understanding of the beef industry and also\u200c understanding biologically the nature of beef, I realized that \u2064I\u200c could make about \u2063four times more \u200con my 30 acres through raising the Dorper sheep than\u200c beef,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Going in, Leake said she wasn\u2019t aware of the entangled\u2063 social and political systems within the beef \u2062industry.<\/p>\n<p>The Big Four are \u2062smart, she said, and seek to maintain their monopoly through lobbying to create barriers to entry for smaller competitors.<\/p>\n<p>These\u2062 companies have a combined weekly\u200c slaughter capacity\u200c of 1.6 million heads of beef and pork and 92 million chickens a \u200bweek.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>Grace Leake raises Dorper\u2063 sheep on her 30-acre farm in Texas, in 2023.\u200d (Courtesy\u200c of The Shepherdess)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<h2>Inspection\u200c Categories<\/h2>\n<p>With 85 percent of the meat supply controlled by \u200cthe Big Four, that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-advocate-for-agricultural-freedom-and-a-congressman-say-the-prime-act-will-decentralize-the-brittle-oligopoly-over-locally-raised-meat\/\" title=\"Advocate and Congressman support PRIME Act to break meat oligopoly.\">leaves small-scale meatpacking operations<\/a> to compete for the remaining 15 percent.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThese small-scale meatpacking facilities fall under three inspection categories: USDA, custom exempt, and state,&#8221; Leake explains on The Shepherdess\u200c Podcast.<\/p>\n<p>Leake\u2019s\u200c local custom-exempt facility processes \u2063her sheep at $80 dollars per head, while her closest USDA\u200d facility charges $225 a head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCustom meat processors are very \u200beconomical and more accessible\u200d in small towns, but if you process the meat without USDA oversight you are not permitted to resale that meat to the \u200dpublic like\u200c meat \u200dprocessed at a USDA facility can be,\u201d \u2063she said. \u201cThat\u2019s where we are right now as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/food-crisis-in-africa-being-fueled-by-war-in-ukraine\/\" title=\"Food Crisis in Africa Being Fueled by War in Ukraine\">small-scale farmers<\/a>, and the two problems this creates for us are expense and accessibility. Those are major \u2062barriers to entry with respect to small farmers\u2062 getting their meat to the market.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The\u200b main difference between a\u2064 USDA \u200bfacility and a custom-exempt facility is that\u200d a USDA facility\u200d always has an assigned \u2062inspector on-site, \u2063while a custom-exempt \u2063facility, though it is still required \u200bto follow USDA standards, doesn\u2019t have an inspector on-site.<\/p>\n<p>Meat processed at a USDA facility can be apportioned \u2063and sold nationwide. \u2062Meat processed at a state facility, which follows the same guidelines as a USDA \u2064facility \u200dcan only be \u200dsold \u200cwithin state lines.<\/p>\n<p>For \u2064small farmers to\u2064 sell \u2063their meat processed at a custom-exempt facility, they must sell \u200bthe whole beef or lamb as\u200b a live animal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is often done via shares where\u2063 the buyer will purchase\u200c half, or a quarter of the animal from \u200dthe farmer,\u201d she said. \u201cThe farmer will coordinate transportation\u200d of the live animal to the meat processing facility, and the owner of the animal share will pay for \u2064processing\u2063 and pick up the\u200d meat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The\u200b average American consumer is accustomed to purchasing a pound\u2062 or two of meat from their local grocery store chain, so the idea of going local by securing an \u200bentire animal, which would also involve acquiring a large freezer, limits small farmers\u2063 in selling their meat.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>PRIME\u2064 Act<\/strong> would give\u2064 the farmers the\u200d opportunity\u2062 to process their meat at a local processor at a \u200dlower\u200c cost and, as a result, allow the farmer to offer the consumer a better price on locally raised meat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPaying $225 to process meat at a USDA-backed facility is roughly $5 per pound, but if \u200cyou\u2019re going to take it to a custom-exempt facility, that\u2019s $2 per pound,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>To critics who argue for more inspection and regulation, Leake\u200c responds by saying that\u2063 she\u2019s not pushing for their absence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I do think, \u2064especially on\u200d a small-scale level, that inspection\u2062 and regulation should \u2064be \u2062catered to the size of your \u200coperation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>In \u2064response to concerns \u2063over meat processed at a facility not backed by the USDA, Leake said, \u201cAt least the consumer will have a choice between \u200cmeat processed at a USDA facility and meat locally raised and processed at a custom-exempt facility.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>Great Lakes Smoked Meats, a division of \u2063Fligner&#8217;s \u2062Market in Lorain, Ohio near\u200b Cleveland, recently received a grant from the\u200b Ohio \u2062Beef \u200cand Poultry Processors Grant \u200cProgram. (Photo courtesy of Fligner&#8217;s Market)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<h2>&#8216;Country-of-Origin Labeling Repealed&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>U.S.\u2064 Representatives Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Chellie Pingree\u200d (D-Maine) are among the sponsors \u200cof\u200d the bipartisan\u2063 bill, with companion legislation U.S. Senators Angus King (I-Maine) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced in the Senate.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Rep. Massie\u200c told \u2064The Epoch Times that the need for the act emerged when Congress voted to remove country-of-origin labels on beef, pork, and chicken in \u200b2015.<\/p>\n<p>The vote was\u2063 made after the \u2063World \u2064Trade Organization \u2064had ruled that the label discriminates\u2064 against\u200b animals imported \u2062from Mexico and Canada\u200b because it was putting their cows and pigs at a disadvantage.<\/p>\n<p>According to a 2015 Wall Street Journal report, the labels were \u200bmandated by Congress in the 2002 and 2008 farm bills which required that meatpackers print on the\u200c packaging for the consumer where the animals were born, raised, and slaughtered.<\/p>\n<p>Mexico and\u200b Canada argued that U.S. meatpackers were selling their hogs and cattle \u2064at a lower price because they didn\u2019t want to deal with tracking imported animals.<\/p>\n<p>The outcome of the\u200b repeal of labeling is that now\u2064 American consumers don\u2019t know where their meat comes from, Rep. Massie said, \u200dwhile the product itself has become an indistinguishable commodity because it&#8217;s commingled\u200c with other products.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you can\u2019t distinguish your product from\u2064 other products that are different, then they \u200csell at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/martin-scorsese-hits-back-the-art-of-cinema-is-being-devalued\/\" title=\"Martin Scorsese Hits Back: The Art Of Cinema Is Being Devalued\">lowest common denominator<\/a>,\u201d Rep. Massie said.<\/p>\n<p>This also creates a misrepresentation of \u2062the\u2064 meat\u2019s origin for the consumer because just because it\u2019s stamped, \u200bUSDA doesn\u2019t mean it was born, raised, and slaughtered in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, I realized it would be important\u200d for farmers\u2062 to\u2062 be able to market directly to consumers, and the best way for \u200dthe \u2064consumer to know\u200d the\u2062 source of their food is to know who grew it instead of relying on a\u2062 label,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) speaks\u200c at\u2062 a \u2062House \u2062committee hearing on May 18, 2023. (House Judiciary\u200c Committee\/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<h2>&#8216;A Brittle Oligopoly&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s an urgency to get\u2063 cosponsors \u200bon the bill because \u2062the revision and \u200drenewal of the omnibus farm bill is \u2064up\u200d for its\u200c quinquennial vote.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s being drafted right now, and it\u2019s a so-called must-pass piece\u2063 of legislation,\u201d \u2064he said. \u201cThere\u2019s\u2062 going \u2064to\u2064 be a\u2063 big bipartisan push to get the farm\u2062 bill \u2062renewed, and so I\u2062 think this is the \u200copportunity to \u2063get the PRIME Act \u2064into the farm bill, and \u200din order to\u2064 do that, we need to\u2064 build support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s timely \u2063not just for a legislative opportunity, but also because of inflation, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople are going into the supermarket and seeing \u2063prices\u2064 they\u2019ve never seen before on proteins like beef and pork,\u201d Rep. Massie said. \u201cMeanwhile, the oligopoly of meat processors keeps \u200cgetting stronger\u200c in terms of market share and market dominance even though \u200dthey\u2019re becoming more \u200dbrittle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Massie pointed to a 2021 cyberattack on\u200d the Brazil-owned JBS\u2014one of \u200cthe \u201cBig Four\u201d\u2014when several of its\u2063 facilities were rendered inoperative in the U.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Texan farmer, known as The Shepherdess, is raising awareness about the PRIME Act. This bill aims to eliminate government restrictions on the sale of locally raised meat. By advocating for agricultural freedom, she hopes to promote the passage of this legislation, allowing farmers more control over their meat processing and sales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":2025245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2025244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2025244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2025245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2025244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2025244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2025244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}