2,000 attend meat industry hearings with Vilsack at CSU [edited]

By Bill Jackson, Greeley, Colo.
The Fence Post
August 28, 2010

FORT COLLINS - A goal of creating a fair and competitive market for the livestock industry.

That was the intent of a meeting at Colorado State University Friday hosted by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Agriculture, but by mid-day it became apparent that the livestock industry is a highly complicated one and finding a one-fit solution will not work.

The meeting drew about 2,000 people to CSU's Lory Student Center ballroom and overflow rooms. The day-long session drew ranchers, cattlemen and processors from across the nation and almost all of them had a different idea of solutions to the topic of the meeting which was to explore competition issues facing producers in livestock marketplaces.

"Producers need to know there is an open, competitive market for their product," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at the start of the meeting.

Vilsack said a common theme he has heard in three previous meetings is one of concern and worry about access to a free market.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said that while the Justice Department is not in the regulation business, "We enforce anti-trust laws, we are the voice for competition to make sure competition is not stifled."

And Gov. Bill Ritter said "the health of rural America is at risk," and he and others on the first panel stressed that while regulations may be needed, care had to be made to not over-regulate the agriculture industry.

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