2 chicken processor, Pilgrim's Pride, pleaded guilty this year to conspiring with others to limit production and keep chicken prices artificially high. The Justice Department is also investigating alleged price fixing in the chicken market. HORSLEY: The administration is setting aside half a billion dollars to help bankroll new meat processors to compete with the big four.

I just sold my cattle, and I lost $150 a head. VILSACK: And I remember talking to a producer the other day at Council Bluffs, and he said, I don't get this. HORSLEY: Vilsack says meatpackers' stranglehold on the market lets them command higher prices at the supermarket while also putting the squeeze on ranchers, who, in some cases, can't even cover their costs. And there are now record profits or near-record profits for those in the middle. TOM VILSACK: Farmers are losing money on cattle, on hogs and poultry that they're selling at a time when consumers are seeing higher prices at the grocery store. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says that gives industry giants like Tyson, Smithfield and JBS enormous leverage over both farmers and consumers. HORSLEY: A similar handful of companies also controls processing of more than half the chicken in the U.S. It's gotten to the point where there's no competition in our industry at all. JONES: There has been merger after merger. So ranchers don't have a lot of options about where to sell their cattle.

is slaughtered and packed by just four big companies. Right now, more than 80% of all the beef in the U.S. HORSLEY: Jones calls himself a conservative Republican, but he welcomes the Biden administration's push to bring more competition to the meatpacking industry. So I was - probably in second grade, I didn't realize that everyone didn't live on the edge of a feedlot. JONES: My dad was a feedlot manager for about 30 years. Jones raises Angus cattle in northwest Kansas, and he grew up in the cattle business. We're just talking about being able to make spaghetti or being able to make tacos. Just last month, wholesale meat prices soared by 8 1/2%.ĪDAM JONES: It's just outrageous. Beef, pork and chicken prices are the biggest drivers of supermarket inflation this year. SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Some of the costliest items in your shopping cart these days are likely to come from the butcher department. The administration's beef with meatpackers is part of a larger campaign against what the White House sees as anti-competitive behavior by big business. The White House suggests that a handful of big meatpacking companies are pushing up prices at the supermarket, even as farmers and ranchers are struggling.

Grocery prices are rising fast, and the Biden administration thinks meatpackers are partly to blame.

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