Rural Lobbyist: Senate Ag Committee OK’s Corporate Hog Farm Ownership In SD At Expense Of Family Farms.

February 12, 2016 – By #South Dakota Farmer UnionFamily farmers were dealt a blow Thursday, when the Senate Ag and Natural Resources committee passed Senate Bill 89, a bill removing the regulations regarding hog farm ownership in the South Dakota Family Farm Act.

Under SB 98, corporations would be eligible to take ownership of hog farms in South Dakota. This draws the concern from a number of producers who are aware of the heavy consolidation in the pork industry. With the 2015 approval of a merger between JBS and Cargill, more than seventy percent of the pork processing ability in the United States is controlled by just four companies.

Back in July of 2015 NFU President Roger Johnson noted that “the rapid consolidation of market power in the hands of just a few pork processors has resulted in the loss of more than 90 percent of all hog farms since 1980.”

Passage of SB 89 could, and most likely will, prove detrimental to family farm hog operations in South Dakota. Proponents of the bill argue that the current language of the Family Farm Act, singling out hog farm ownership, is unconstitutional. South Dakota Farmers Union is currently looking into this claim but presently opposes the passage of Senate Bill 98.

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Last Modified: 02/12/2016 6:35:42 pm MST