COOL and the Livestock Industry

WHEREAS, the top five beef slaughterhouses in the United States control 85% of the cattle slaughter market; and

WHEREAS, the horizontal concentration and vertical integration have been increasing drastically each year and each decade, with no change in this market-degrading trend; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. poultry industry has matured in its horizontal concentration and vertical integration to the extent that the open market in poultry is gone and growers are serfs on their own land; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. hog industry has progressed in horizontal concentration and vertical integration to a degree that less than 10% of market hogs are sold on the open market; and

WHEREAS, supply and demand have little relevance in livestock markets where conditions are dictated by corporate bureaucrats and category captains; and

WHEREAS, America and American agriculture was made strong by fair, open, and competitive markets, as well as the individual innovation and entrepreneurship of rural agricultural citizens; and

WHEREAS, our children have no future in agriculture without strong governmental corrective action; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED: that the Wyoming Republican Party calls upon the Wyoming Congressional Delegates to pass, and the appropriate government agency to implement, legislation requiring mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) only for meat products containing meats that were raised entirely in the US, and also requiring that meat of foreign origin be labeled as such.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: that the Wyoming Republican Party calls upon the Wyoming Congressional Delegates to pass, and the appropriate government agency to implement, legislation restoring competition to the markets by ending packer ownership of cattle and captive supplies more than two weeks before slaughter, open and transparent prices, with a firm base price given at the time contract cattle are contracted, disallow meatpackers from alleging a "business justification" to avoid Packers & Stockyards Act requirements, and amend the Act to prevent unfair or deceptive practices.

Passed:

Wyoming Republican Party, 19 Apr 2024 WYGOP State Convention