Low and inconsistent beef quality has been blamed by some for the losses of beef's share of total meat consumption. Tighter vertical coordination through use of alternative marketing arrangements and more precise price signaling through use of different cattle valuation methods may help improve...

This work measures the impact of captive supplies, or cattle procured through alternative marketing agreements (AMAs), on meatpacker costs, gross margins, and profits. Confidential profit and loss data were examined from all the individual packing plants within the four largest packing firms for...

In addition to horizontal consolidation at the input, production, and processing subsectors, the US pork industry is becoming more vertically aligned. The largest hog producers and pork processors were surveyed regarding their involvement in vertical coordination arrangements and their plans for...

A survey of Iowa farmers who quit raising hogs between 1991-1997 quantified the demographics of the enterprises and operators, motivations for leaving, and prospects for re-entering hog production. The median enterprise size was 500 head marketed a year, yet hogs accounted for 40% of farm...