Leah Douglas

(Reuters) – The United States will issue new rules and $1 billion in funding this year to support independent meat processors and ranchers as part of a plan to address a lack of “meaningful competition” in the meat sector, President Joe Biden said on Monday.

It comes as a result of growing concern that some big meat, poultry, and pork companies may have too much influence over America’s meat market. This allows them to set wholesale and retail prices in order to make a profit, at the expense their consumers.

“Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism. It’s exploitation,” Biden said. “That’s what we’re seeing in meat and poultry industries now.”

According to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (who was speaking with Biden at an event), the Department of Agriculture will use the $1 billion American Rescue Plan funds from the Department of Agriculture to grow the independent meat processing industry, which includes funds for funding grants and guaranteed loans as well as worker training.

The White House recently found that 44% to 55% of the total market for chicken, beef, and pork products is controlled by the four largest meatpackers.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said at the event that “too many industries have become too consolidated over time,” and that the antitrust division of the Department of Justice has been chronically underfunded.

“Anticompetitive practices in agriculture, as in any industry, hurts the American people – producers, consumers, and workers alike – and they hurt the American economy,” Garland said.

USDA will publish rulemaking in this year’s Packers and Stockyards Act to improve enforcement and clarify “Product of USA” meat labels. Domestic ranchers claim that these labels unfairly favor multinational corporations who raise cattle overseas and slaughter only in the United States.

National Chicken Council president Mike Brown called the plan “a solution in search of a problem.”