This foreign meat company got US tax money. Now it wants to conquer America.

[Judi Lynn]

Kimberly Kindy 11 hrs ago

Two men in cowboy hats stood behind President Trump in May as he announced a $16 billion agricultural bailout. Trump said the financial relief from his trade war with China would help American farmers, reinforcing an earlier tweet when the president said the funds would help “great Patriot Farmers.”



© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images President Trump delivers remarks in support of farmers and ranchers at the White House in May.

But not all beneficiaries of the taxpayer-funded program are American farmers or patriots. JBS, a Brazilian company that is the largest meat producer in the world, has received $78 million in government pork contracts funded with the bailout funds — more than any other U.S. pork producer.

JBS’s winning hand in securing a quarter of all of the pork bailout contracts is one example of the power a small number of multinational meat companies now hold in the United States. JBS has become a major player in the United States even as it faces price-fixing and other investigations from the federal government.

The company’s explosive growth through acquisitions over the past decade has been a dominant factor in the consolidation of the meat industry.

A dozen years ago, JBS did not own a single U.S. meat plant. Today, JBS and three other food companies control about 85 percent of beef production. JBS and Tyson Foods control about 40 percent of the poultry market. And JBS and three other companies control nearly 70 percent of the pork market.

More:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/this-foreign-meat-company-got-us-tax-money-now-it-wants-to-conquer-america/ar-AAJSQFB?li=BBnb7Kz

[Ilsa]

1. Those percentages of market ownership are

Surprising and shocking. That's practically a monopoly.