US Government Look To Take Meat Processors To Task

Jan 04, 2022

The US government is preparing to do battle with a handful of companies it says holds too much control when it comes to the price of meat and poultry.

President Joe Biden joined by USDA secretary Tom Vilsack, announced a four point plan to bring back competition to the industry and raise the prices that producers receive for their animals. There are groups on this side of the border that are suggesting the Trudeau government should be doing the same.

The US meat institute was quick to issue its' own statement following Biden's meeting on Monday. It says the US government is ignoring the real issue that packing plants and processors in the states are facing and that's a critical labour shortage. That's also an issue here as some plants in eastern Canada have a 40 percent vacancy rate. It's not quite that bad in Alberta, but it's getting there.

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Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

We're a 6th generation family farm in southeast Iowa showing the real ups and downs of pig farming and row crop farming. No script, just the work. Subscribe and follow along.

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