Iowa Senate Passes Bill Dictating Packer Purchases

March 28, 2007 — Pork Alert

The Iowa Senate passed a bill that would require meatpackers in Iowa to buy at least 25 percent of their hogs on the spot market. The bill came from Senate President Jack Kibbie, saying it's necessary to sustain some competition within a sector dominated by a few large meatpackers. He argues that, without the bill, packers would use special ownership arrangements and contracts to get hogs, "shutting out an already dwindling number of independent hog farmers."

The bill's critics contend that it amounts to government meddling in the marketplace, that it won't help farmers and could drive packers out of the state. The bill now moves to the Iowa House.

Source: Pork Alert, Pork Magazine