SCHMIDT HAS A BEEF WITH BEEF

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate significant price swings in the cattle and beef markets to determine whether any illegal market manipulation has occurred, the attorney general’s office announced today. In a letter sent to U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, Schmidt joined the request for an investigation made earlier this month by 11 other state attorneys general. The main state-level statute authorizing the attorney general to investigate potential illegal market manipulation is the Kansas Restraint of Trade Act. But that state statute provides that it does not apply to situations governed by the federal Packers and Stockyards Act. Schmidt said he nonetheless has authority to participate in enforcement of federal antitrust law and joins with the other states in an effort to persuade USDOJ to undertake an investigation. He says there have been tremendous disruptions in beef and cattle markets related to COVID-19. The legal question is whether any other factors that may not be legally permissible also are at play. The underlying frustration of many cattle producers and feeders boils down to this: Why are they being paid significantly less for live cattle when consumers are paying more for beef on the grocer’s shelf? It is a reasonable question that deserves a review and fully-informed answer.”