U.S. Senator Ken Salazar

Member of the Agriculture, Energy and Veterans Affairs Committees

 

2300 15th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

 

 

For Immediate Release

January 19, 2006

CONTACT:    Cody Wertz – Comm. Director

                        303-455-7600

Andrew Nannis  – Press Secretary

                        202-224-5852


 Sen. Salazar Calls for Hearings Before Senate Ag Committee In Response to USDA Audit Revelations on Packers Enforcement

DENVER, CO – A USDA audit has uncovered a broad cover-up in the Department’s Packers and Stockyards Program where phony investigations were logged to keep up appearances of enforcement while none were taking place.

“The fraud against the taxpayers and family farmers and ranchers this audit uncovered is totally unacceptable,” said Senator Salazar. “This is exactly the culture of corruption that makes people distrust Washington.”

A USDA Inspector General audit has determined that since 1999, the USDA has not filed a single formal complaint for anti-competitive behavior in the meat or poultry industry. In addition, the audit found that the Packers and Stockyards Program has rarely conducted a large investigation or focused on a major packing firm, and that senior USDA officials prevented anti-competitive investigations from being referred to department lawyers, capable of filing complaints or referring cases to the Justice Department for further action. At the same time, USDA employees padded their enforcement action numbers by counting routine correspondence and reviews of public data.

“Small, independent ranchers in Colorado and across the country have faced years of drought, increased concentration in the market, market uncertainty overseas and the expanding power of large agribusinesses,” said Senator Salazar. “Now we find out the very people supposed to be protecting them have been hanging them out to dry. This is totally unacceptable.”

In addition, Senator Salazar said that he intended to ask Senate Committee on Agriculture Chairman Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Ranking Member Tom Harkin (D-IA) to hold immediate hearings into the USDA’s Packers and Stockyards Program to hold the USDA accountable and determine what can be done to prevent this kind of fraud in the future.

Earlier this year, Senator Salazar joined a bipartisan group of Senators including Senators Grassley (R-IA), Dorgan (D-ND), Dayton (D-MN), Enzi (R-WY), Harkin (D-IA), Johnson (D-SD), and Thune (R-SD), in cosponsoring legislation to ban packer ownership and ensure market access for large and small cattle producers. The packer ownership provisions were included in the Senate-passed version of the 2002 farm bill, but were removed from the final farm bill. Currently, four meatpackers control over 80 percent of the beef market. Surveys done by the Colorado Department of Agriculture have cited steady declines in the number of cattle across the state. In 2004, Colorado reported the lowest inventory of cattle since 1962. Furthermore, in 2002, 60 percent of farms and ranches in Colorado had annual sales of less than $10,000.

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