WASHINGTON, February 20, 2004 -The National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC) is pleased with the precedent-setting Picket v. IBP decision, made by a federal jury on February 17, 2004, which may force IBP (now Tyson Foods, Inc.) to pay 30,000 cattle producers $1.28 billion compensation for manipulating cattle prices.

"The American people owe a debt of gratitude to the cattle producers who won their well-deserved federal court decision against the captive supply operations of giant meat-packer Tyson Foods, Inc.," declared NFFC President George Naylor. "In this case, the jury gave a voice to our citizen's growing displeasure of multinational corporations¡¯ influence on this nation's economic and political life."

However, this price manipulation situation with cattle is by no means unique. NFFC farmer leaders fight similar battles in the pork and dairy sectors. According to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, four companies, Tyson/IBP, Cargill/Excel, Swift and Co./Conagra, and Farmland National Beef, now control 82 percent of the beef slaughter market, up from 36 percent in 1980. Moreover, in the dairy industry Dean Foods currently owns 35 percent of the nationwide market whereas in 1980, no firm owned more than 10 percent of the national market. In some regional markets, Dean Foods owns 70 to 90 percent of the market.

"The $1.28 billion in damages to be paid by Tyson may seem like a lot," said Bill Christison, cattle producer and former NFFC president from Chillicothe, Missouri, but it pales in comparison to the lost income and economic activity over the years in rural communities throughout the United States."

"If this country is to have a food and farm system that serves family farmers and consumers," stated Naylor, "then Congress and the President must pass a ban on packer ownership of livestock, enforce current laws under the Packer and Stockyards Act of 1921, and use our anti-trust laws to break up the conglomerates already exercising illegal market power."