Ranchers saddle up for another fight against JBS

A leading trade group for U.S. cattle raisers is calling on the Department of Justice to block a deal that could result in JBS USA, whose parent company is the world's largest meat packer, becoming the largest processor here. In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and USDA Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyards Administration Administrator Larry Mitchell, R-CALF USA requested that the U.S. government "immediately initiate an investigation to determine the potential effects" that JBS USA's potential acquisition of two Canadian beef packing plants a Canadian feedlot and the two U.S. beef packing plants owned by Canada's XL Foods Inc. will have on competition on the U.S. live cattle market and the consumer beef market. R-Calf said the two Canadian beef packing plants and the Canadian feedlot are major beef and/or cattle exporters to the U.S. JBS USA, a subsidiary of Brazil-based JBS SA, on Oct. 17 announced an agreement to manage one of XL Food's Canadian operations. The agreement also provides JBS USA an exclusive option to purchase XL's Canadian and U.S. operations for $100 million, split evenly between cash and JBS SA shares. JBS USA immediately began managing XL Lakeside, a beef processing plant in Brooks, Alberta, Canada, with capacity to process 4,000 head of cattle daily. The option gives JBS USA right to purchase the Lakeside packing plant as well as a beef packing plant in Calgary, Alberta; a feedlot in Brooks, Alberta, and the adjacent farmland acreage; a beef packing plant in Omaha, Neb.; and a beef packing plant in Nampa, Idaho...more