This document discusses issues facing farmers and ranchers, including declining farm share of retail prices for beef and negative returns on equity for farming compared to positive returns for meatpacking and grocery. It argues that big corporations called "Big Food" extract value at the expense of farmers and ranchers. The document proposes alternatives like direct marketing from farmers to consumers and a public market to connect producers and eaters while circumventing Big Food.

1. Meeting of the Markets
Building connections between
producers and eaters
October 15, 2012
By Mike Callicrate

2. Changing the way we eat can
change the way food is produced
MikeCallicrate.com 5-17-12

3. Farm share of the consumer retail beef dollar
A picture of abusive market power
70.0%
1975
1950
65.0%
60.0%
55.0%
2012
1995 1996 1997 1999 2000
50.0%
1998
2006
45.0%
2009
40.0%
2002
35.0%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
*All Fresh Choice Beef – USDA-ERS Data

4. 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/
4

5. Eaters
BIG FOOD
Farmers and Ranchers
5

6. BIG FOOD - Where the takers reside
– the big corporations, the CEOs, the
bureaucrats, the politicians, the brokers,
the middlemen, agents and certifiers.
They create nothing. They produce no
wealth. They extract, exploit, abuse and
enslave. They mine our soils and pollute.
They make us sick. They operate above
the law.

7. Vincent C. Vickers, Governor of the Bank
of England in 1910, described them as
“drones of the national beehive.”
“They live and are dependent upon the
honey that others collect. Like the
unemployed, they are supported at the
cost of the nation.”

8. He said, “If productive industry could cut
out the intervening profit of the
middleman and trade direct with the
individual consumers of their products,
there would follow an immediate
demand throughout the country for a
much greater production, necessitating
an increased employment of labour and
therefore an eventual reduction of
taxation.”

9. What is an animal worth?
May 16, 2012
*1,350 lb. live wt. x 42% retail yield = 567 pounds of fresh retail beef
567 pounds x $5.05/lb. (ave. retail price) = $2,863/head
Drop credit $175/head
Total value $3,038/head
1,350 lb. live animal at $120/cwt. = $1,620/head = 53% of retail value
Packer/Retailer share $1,418/head = 47% of retail value
* USDA commodity steer and heifer ave. slaughter weight

10. In 1975 the producer received 65% of the retail value of beef
Today’s 53% farm share leaves the producer
12% short of when the markets were competitive
12% x $3,038 = $370/head loss to the producer
NOTE: Farm Share is an indicator of market power. As the meat
industry has become more concentrated (35% four-firm
concentration to over 80%), while touting the benefits of
economies of scale and efficiencies, producers have been
squeezed. Consumers have paid more for industrial
produced, lower quality, highly processed meat.

11. How to increase farm and ranch gate income?
Eaters
BIG FOOD
Farmers and Ranchers 13

12. This giant t-bone tasted like it came from a
happy cow! We love our beef from Claybrook
Farms Meat via Cowpool!

13. 1,200 lb. animal (w/o growth enhancing compounds) x 47% (bone-in) retail
yield = 564 lbs. meat
1,200 lb. animal x 63% carcass yield = 756 lbs. hanging wt.
756 lbs. x $3.79/lb. hanging wt. $2,865
Slaughter Fee -$65/head
Processing Fee (68 cents x hanging wt.) -$514
Net income $2,286
$2,286  1,200 lbs. = $1.90/lb. to producer
1200 lb. animal x 47% retail yield (bone-in) = 564 lbs. of retail beef
$2,286/head  564 lbs. = $5.08/lb. cost to consumer
vs.
1350 lb. animal x 42% retail yield (boneless) = 567 lbs. of retail beef
$2,863/head  567 lbs. = $5.05/lb. cost to consumer

16. Economic Development
vs.
Community Development

17. Big companies swallowing up school lunch money?
A major investigation into the
school lunch industry is
ongoing as companies that
decide what food goes on your
child's plate may be cheating
schools and taxpayers out of
millions. Sharyl Attkisson
investigates charges of a
corporate rip-off.
Rick Hughes with District 11 in
Colorado Springs provides an
alternative to Sodexo’s bad
food and it’s theft of school
lunch money…
CBS Evening News May 11, 2012

18. Putting the family farm face
on industrial agribusiness
“We are the farmers and ranchers of America.”
20

19. Cargill, Safeway Go Locavore in Colorado
September 13, 2012 - FORT MORGAN, Colo.—Cargill
and Safeway have announced a collaboration that
will bring “Colorado Proud” beef products to Safeway
stores throughout Colorado as part of the retailer’s
Rancher’s Reserve Tender Beef line.
21

20. Tyson launches unique new audit
program for on-farm animal treatment
10/12/12 - Tyson Foods, Inc. has launched a
company-wide auditing program to monitor the
treatment of animals by the 12,000 livestock and
poultry farmers that supply the company.
22

22. Proposed Colorado Springs Public Market - Creating
a new community space for eaters, growers, family
farmers, ranchers and local businesses, separate
and safe from Big Food and Wall Street.