Nebraska Lifts Ban on Meat Packers Owning Hogs

A new Nebraska law ends one of the last state bans in the U.S. on meatpacking companies owning hogs.

The new law reverses a measure that went into effect in 1999 to bolster a general rule protecting small, family farms. The rule restricted corporate ownership of land and farms.

Supporters of the new law, which include the Nebraska Farm Bureau and big meat companies like Smithfield Foods Inc., say Nebraska lagged behind the rest of the country. They say that contracts between packers and hog producers used in Iowa and other states reduce farmers’ exposure to volatile swings in the price of feed and livestock.

Critics argue that the law will make it harder for independent farmers to sell hogs without a contract, thereby weakening the negotiated cash markets that they say encourage greater competition and prop up prices.

Other Farm Belt states such as South Dakota and Minnesota have corporate farming laws to limit the power of companies to engage in agriculture, but Nebraska was the last state with an explicit ban on swine ownership by packers.

Source: Wall Street Journal  S