WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden met virtually with family farmers and ranchers on Monday to highlight his administration’s ongoing effort to support independent meat processors, and to pressure the four biggest meatpacking companies into easing prices for consumers.

The White House spent many months trying to prove that the rising prices of meat and poultry are due to anti-competitive consolidation in the meatpacking sector.

Four companies – Tyson, JBS, Marfrig and Seaboard – control as much as 85% of the nationwide meatpacking business, according to a White House estimate.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture November data, grocery prices have risen 6.4% in the last year. However, the prices of meat, poultry and fish have increased even faster over that same time period at 12.8%.

“While profits rise [at the biggest meatpackers]Biden stated that grocery store prices go up in proportion to inflation at Monday’s White House event.

His statement also said that “the farmers get lower prices for the goods they bring to the market.” It is a sign that the market has become distorted due to lack of competition.

To combat this shortage of competition, the administration plans to support smaller meatpackers and create new competition for big four.

It’s not capitalism if there is no competition. It’s exploitation,” Biden said. He added, “That’s the problem we see in the poultry and meat” sectors.

Biden’s comments were rebuffed by the industry. After the White House event Julie Anna Potts (president of the North American Meat Institute), a prominent meatpacking sector group, stated Monday that the White House had ignored the most pressing challenge facing the meatpacking business: the labor shortages.

Potts made the following statement in response to CNBC: “Press conferences or using taxpayer funds to set up government-sponsored packaging and processing plants won’t do anything to alleviate the shortage of labor at meat and poultry plant and spike inflation across the entire economy,” Potts told CNBC.

Potts stated that “The Administration would like the American people believe that the American meat and poultry industries are unique” and is not facing the same inflation problems as the rest of the economy. He also said, “The Administration wants to convince the American people that there are no similar issues causing inflation throughout the entire economy such as increased input costs and increased energy costs and labor shortages, and transport challenges.” The truth is that consumers know this.

Biden, along with Attorney General Merrick Galrland and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack described the USDA’s ongoing efforts to allocate around $1B in Covid relief funds for independent meatpackers to lower entry barriers.

The White House described it as a “major announcement” about an “action plan”. However, most pieces of that plan were already announced by the White House as soon as July 2013.

The grants provide funding for gap financing of approximately $375,000,000 to help meat processors to expand their production in order compete better with larger players in the industry.

Additionally, there are $100 million loan guarantees to private lenders. The USDA hopes this will make as much as $1 billion worth of loans immediately available for new infrastructure and food storage. These loan guarantees first became public in December 2013.

According to Monday’s White House factsheet, another $275 million will go towards closing the existing credit gap for independent meatpackers. Vilsack first revealed this money as part of the $500 million fund block. in July of last year.

Biden also included a plan to improve coordination between the Department of Justice, the Department of Agriculture and other agencies in order to fight illegal anti-competitive behavior across the food supply chain.

Garland and Vilsack declared Monday that within 30 Days a new portal for reporting potential violations of the market competition laws will be available to the public.

Surveys consistently showInflation is the biggest economic problem facing Americans. Recent months have seen a drop in approval ratings for Biden due to anger over high prices.

The Build Back Better Act, Biden’s domestic spending bill that was signature in December collapsed late last month.

The legislation passed the House in 2012. However, it was rejected by the Senate. Sen. Joe Manchin (a conservative Democrat from West Virginia) cited inflation to be the main reason he couldn’t support the bill worth $1.75 trillion. It contained significant investments in social security nets and renewable energy.

Economists agree that Biden cannot in the near term reverse inflationary trends caused by disruptions and economic shifts worldwide due to pandemics.

Biden’s office recently revealed that poultry and meat prices have risen due to the same reasons that drive other price rises: increased demand, lower labor costs, and an inability of the global supply chains to heal from two years of pandemics.

USDA’s food-at-home indexAccording to a report by, the company that tracks food prices said last month, “strong domestic and international demand”, labor shortages and supply chain disruptions were all factors driving up meat, poultry, and egg prices.