I was very pleased to see the opinion article by Kata Alvidrez in Tuesday’s Daily.

Her thoughts on the current situation facing the hog industry were very enlightening and, at the same time, disturbing.

Vertical integration in the hog industry could very well be a death blow to agriculture as we know it in Iowa and possibly the United States.

It’s happened before in other industries (namely poultry), and the government stood aside in the name of “progress.”

Why no anti-trust litigation as Ms. Alvidrez suggested?

In essence, the packing companies ARE monopolizing the industry by owning the hog all the way from farrowing crate to slaughterhouse, or tying up a “producer” in a production contract where the producer owns the buildings and provides the labor while the company owns the hogs, feed, vets, etc.

Is that not conspiring to put your competition, in this case, the family farmer, out of business?

Where is Teddy Roosevelt when we need him and his trust-busting? Ever read “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair?

This sort of thing is not new to our nation. Meatpackers were bringing in immigrants to work in their plants in the early 1900s (possibly some of your ancestors).

Is it any different in this day and age, when IBP is a major recruiter of Bosnians?

The meatpacking industry is not alone in the abuse of its laborers, and it now seems it has become even more greedy.

It has decided to make fools of both hog producers AND the American consumer who continues to buy the products at inflated prices in the grocery store.

In my opinion, something needs to be done to stop the rape of the American consumer and the American hog farmer.

The current pricing situation is out and out robbery.

The consumer needs to demand lower prices at the deli or counter, plain and simple.

However, as Ms. Alvidrez asks, “if the consumer is powerless, then who holds those who set the prices in check?”

Surely not the government.

That would mean they would be doing their job and not worrying about important things like impeachment.

It’s time for the government to stand up to Big Industry, just as it was not so long ago when our grandparents were our age.

If not, we might as well kiss the whole experiment called capitalism goodbye.

Ms. Alvidrez, hogs are $16 per hundredweight, not 16 cents.

That’s really some cheap eating. You could buy a lot of hog for a quarter!!!

Break-even for some producers is around $35 per hundredweight, not 35 cents.

35 cents/pound, not per 100 pounds.

Just a little clarification.

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Ben Rahe

Junior

Animal science