USDA Settles a Packers and Stockyards Case with Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation

Feb 14, 2024

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reached a consent decision with Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation (Cargill) of Wichita, Kan., on Feb. 5, 2024, for violations of the Packers and Stockyards (P&S) Act.

An investigation by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) was initiated in March 2022 when Cargill self-reported that its beef grading cameras were installed incorrectly, resulting in inaccurate yield grades at its four fed cattle plants. The investigation revealed that Cargill applied inaccurate yield grades to 324,824 carcasses that it purchased on a carcass grade and weight basis from August 2021 to March 2022, resulting in an underpayment of $12,514,804 to cattle sellers. Cargill compensated all sellers for any underpayment in May 2022 using corrected yield grades.

Under the consent decision, Cargill must cease and desist from failing to meet applicable camera grading installation standards as established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology at its cattle processing plants and from compensating sellers based on inaccurate grading. In addition, Cargill was assessed a civil penalty of $155,000.

The P&S Act is a fair-trade practice and payment protection law that promotes fair and competitive marketing environments for the livestock, meat, and poultry industries.

For further information about the Packers and Stockyards Act, contact Bryice Wilke, Packers and Stockyards Division, at (515) 314-3888 or by email at Bryice.A.Wilke@usda.gov.

Source : usda.gov

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

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