The Garden City Telegram
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Ranchers discuss future of industry
Published 8/28/2008 in News : Business
BY MONICA SPRINGER
mspringer@gctelegram.com
Although area cattle producers voiced concern about the industry Wednesday at the Wheatlands Convention Center, one Finney County producer had something positive to say. The rest of the group agreed.
"The future has a lot of hope and brightness to it," said Sam Hands, who farms in southern Finney County.
Ranchers and farmers gathered for a lunch meeting with Steve Baccus, president of Kansas Farm Bureau. Topics discussed included the high price of commodities, the declining availability of water from the Ogallala Aquifer, the JBS acquisition, and having drought-resistent corn on the market.
Hands said with the help of plant geneticists the world of corn has come a long way in the past 20 years. He said scientists are developing corn that needs less water than regular corn.
Other farmers and ranchers said the way corn is processed must be made more efficient because of the rising costs of energy and fertilizer. Corn is an important crop in southwest Kansas because the cattle industry uses it for feed, Baccus said.
Much of the lunch-time conversation centered on JBS/Swift SA, a Brazilian-based company, that has bought U.S. companies National Beef Packing Company LLC and Smithfield Beef Group Inc., as well as Australian company Tasman Group Ltd. JBS also is looking to buy Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding, another U.S. company.
The Department of Justice is reviewing the measure, Baccus said, because farmers and ranchers are concerned that JBS/Swift SA could be forming a monopoly. While monopolies aren't necessarily bad, Baccus said, farmers and ranchers are concerned because if JBS/Swift SA is successful in its latest acquisition, four companies that bought cattle will merge into one company that will compete with the rest of the industry.
That could impact prices, Baccus said.
Baccus asked the group what they thought on foreign ownership of a packing company. Jarvis Garetson, who farms in Haskell County, said he didn't think foreign companies have ties here. Local people owning businesses have something at stake other than business, he said, such as taking care of a family. Garetson said he also was concerned about having those companies in control of the local economy.
Baccus then directed the conversation to local companies outsourcing help to foreign countries. Garetson said part of the problem is self-inflicted on the United States' part.
"We don't want to work for what we have," he said.
"Why does a company outsource?" Baccus asked. "It improves the company's bottom line. It grows business and labor."
Baccus stopped in Garden City to visit with livestock producers in the area about high commodity prices, animal rights activists, the difficulty of finding farm help, and other issues the industry faces. Baccus is making other stops in the state to have similar meetings with Kansas livestock producers.
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