Statewide Iowa — A year ago in the midst of the pandemic, the price spread between packers and cattle producers rose to 1500 percent.
John Tupper, vice president of the US Cattlemen’s Association, says the four big meat packers still are making significant profits.
Tupper, an auctioneer and cow-calf operator from South Dakota, testified during a US Senate Ag Committee hearing Wednesday afternoon. Farm state lawmakers are considering bills that would give independent livestock operators more information about prices, as many cattle sales are now private.
There were about three point six million head of cattle and calves in Iowa on January 1st, down more than 200 thousand from the previous year. Tupper says a steer is worth about 16 hundred dollars today.
The North American Meat Institute, a trade group representing meat packers, says prices are following market trends as supply for meat struggles to keep pace with demand. Iowa now ranks eighth among the states in cattle production.
