{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnson-questions-packers-processing-concentration", "Johnson Questions Packers on Processing Concentration", "2022-04-27", "2022", "2022-04", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Representatives Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) participated in an Agriculture Committee hearing on \u201cPrice Discrepancies, Transparency, and Alleged Unfair Practices in Cattle Markets.\u201d Johnson\u2019s Butcher Block Actand Cattle Contract Library Act were highlighted throughout the hearing as strong solutions to the processing capacity and transparency issues producers face today.\n\nJohnson questioned witnesses on areas of consensus amongst cattle groups and called for the full release of the investigation into the potential violation of the Packers and Stockyards Act. The witness echoed that request.\n\n\u201cThe laws are in the books; we just need to make sure enforcement is occurring,\u201d said National Cattlemen\u2019s Beef Association President Don Schiefelbein. \u201cKnowledge is also power \u2013 if we knew what was occurring and why it occurred it would be so helpful to my membership. Our lives depend on fair markets, how come we can\u2019t get answers on what has transpired and where we are today?\n\n\u201cSilence is not good for the producer,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cLet\u2019s set this information free.\u201d\n\nJohnson also questioned the CEOs of the four largest meat packing companies on concentration within the market and whether or not packers were prepared for the next black swan event, following disruption in the market due to events like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Tyson Holcomb fire.\n\n\u201cBetween 85 and 90% of the beef processing in this country is done at just 30 plants \u2013 in fact, 12 plants do more than half of all the beef processing,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cThat seems like a lot of vulnerability. We don\u2019t know when, but we know another black swan event is coming. Tightness keeps us exposed to unforeseen disruption and that creates a lot of vulnerability to the American cattle producer. What do we do about it?\u201d\n\nJohnson highlighted that the concentration in the cattle market poses a significant risk to food security in our nation.\n\nClick here to watch Johnson\u2019s questioning.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T02:19:30Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnson-questions-packers-processing-concentration"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.050172071903944, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}