The mission of OCM is to reclaim competitive markets in agriculture for farmers and ranchers. Over the past 35 years, the US has lost nearly half of its ranchers, 90% of hog farmers, and over 80% of dairy farmers. Every month, 1000 ranches go out of production. Today, large meatpackers take $660 per head from cattle prices, while retail beef prices have only increased slightly. Market concentration has led to abusive market power where packers and retailers exploit farmers and ranchers.

1. The mission of OCM is to
reclaim competitive
markets in agriculture for
farmers, ranchers and rural
communities.
Presented by Mike Callicrate
November 15, 2016
Effects of Market Concentration

2. So this is where you grew up...
What happened Grandpa?
The U.S. has lost nearly half of it’s ranchers,
90% of it’s hog farmers and over 80% of it’s
dairymen in the last 35 years.
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3. Photograph from the book, Great Ranches of the West ©2007 Jim Keen
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Every month 1,000 ranches go out of production.

4. Photograph from the book, Great Ranches of the West ©2007 Jim Keen
The National Security issue
no one is talking about!
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5. Today, 1,350 lb. finished cattle are worth
$3,300 per head at the retail meat counter.

6. Choice beef values and spreads and the all-fresh retail value
Recent high
Recent low

7. Choice beef values and spreads and the all-fresh retail value
This is abusive market power!

8. Choice beef values and spreads and the all-fresh retail value
$660 per head taken
from the producer!!

9. While USDA reports retail beef
prices 8% lower, finished cattle
prices have declined 41%, and
calves 50%.

10. *All Fresh Choice Beef – USDA-ERS Data
35.0%
40.0%
45.0%
50.0%
55.0%
60.0%
65.0%
70.0%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1950
1975
1995 1996 1997
1998
2002
2000
2006
1999
Farm share of the consumer retail beef dollar
Picture of market manipulation
2012
2009
2013
2014
2015
Fed cattle dropped 41% from $170/cwt.
to $100/cwt. Consumer beef prices
have remained basically unchanged.
The last time the finished cattle market
was competitive. Four-firm concentration
was around 35%. Today it’s 85%
Updated by Mike Callicrate Jan 2016
2016
The Boston Consulting Group
advised IBP to cooperate with other
big packers rather than compete.

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The U.S. is now a net food importer on a value basis.
Beef – Brazilian owned
Pork – Chinese owned
Poultry – Brazilian owned
The largest firms in beef, pork,
and poultry are foreign owned:

14. “You should be suing
Walmart [Instead of
IBP], they are the
problem. They tell us
what they will pay and
we have no choice but
to pay you less.”
- John Tyson 2002

15. The big packers are driving the getaway car.
Partners in Crime
The big retailers are robbing the bank.

16. Average return on equity before tax (ROE)
Retail grocery: ROE = 21% (last 6 years)
Meat packing: ROE = 17% (last 6 years)
All Farming & ranching: ROE = NEGATIVE 0.54%
(last 13 years)
Packers--for those with sales > $500k - Before tax ROE, 2002-2009: 17.38% - source: http://www.bizminer.com/industries/Meat-
packing-plants-2011/
Retail grocery--food marketing institute book - http://www.fmi.org - 2003-2009 average: before tax ROE = 20.75%
Cattle--for the farm typology "cattle" meaning primarily cattle operations in USDA/ERS annual surveys -
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/ARMS/
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17. There’s an economic term to describe this phenomenon.
It’s called…
STEALING
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- John W. Helmuth, Ph.D, Ag Economist. He warned early of the dangers of concentrated
market power by packers and agribusiness. He died in November of 1999.

18. "These guys are nothing but
old-time gangsters, thugs
and thieves. They beat your
brains in with their market
power and take your money."
Statement of Mike Callicrate on opening day of 2004 Tyson/IBP trial
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19. “…there is no stopping it
(concentration). This is an
evolution that’s going to take
place in spite of whoever
is in the way.”
Robert Peterson, IBP Chairman and CEO, July 1996
$20 Billion by 2001 article, in Meat and Poultry
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20. Emptiness: A picture of big meat packer
retaliation – Why cattle feeders won’t speak out
against meat packer abuses…
Callicrate Cattle Co., 1999 20"What we support prospers, what we feed grows." - MikeCallicrate.com
Callicrate feed yard closed in
1999 when the meat packers
refused to buy the cattle.

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22. When we lose our markets, we lose our freedom!
“There once was a time in
history when the limitation of
governmental power meant
increasing liberty for the people.
In the present day the limitation
of governmental power, or
governmental action, means the
enslavement of the people by
the great corporations. “
Theodore Roosevelt 1913