OREGON
A8 — THE OBSERVER
THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2022
OCA president backs expansion of small, medium processors
By CRAIG REED
For the Capital Press
WINSTON — Todd
Nash, president of the
Oregon Cattlemen’s Asso-
ciation, is hoping to see the
expansion of some small
and mid-sized processing
and packing facilities in
Oregon.
To help with the expense
of upgrading those facilities
or building a new one to
increase processing capaci-
ties for Oregon-raised live-
stock, the state Legislature
allocated $2 million to the
Oregon Meat Processing
Infrastructure and Capacity
Building Grant Program
during the short session
in February. The pur-
pose of the grant program,
according to the Oregon
Department of Agriculture,
is to help fund “equipment,
physical improvements,
technical assistance, pro-
cessing hardware/software,
on-site waste handling and
education/training.”
“If the cattle are raised
here, fed here and then
processed here, it would
keep a substantial amount
of money here to help our
economy,” said Nash, who
was a guest at the Douglas
County Livestock Associa-
tion’s Spring Conference on
Thursday, April 7. “There’s
a million head of cattle
here in Oregon and most
of them have been shipped
out, making money for the
big packers and their share-
holders. The small facilities
in Oregon currently aren’t
able to handle that many.
The current process hasn’t
been working out well for
Oregon.”
Nash, a rancher in Wal-
lowa County in North-
eastern Oregon, said $10
million was requested from
the Legislature, which
reduced the appropriation.
Applications for funding up
to $500,000 were accepted
in February and March.
Grants to help fund equip-
ment will be awarded in
May, and projects must
Craig Reed/For the Capital Press
Todd Nash, left, president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, talks with Veril Nelson, a Sutherlin area rancher, during the Douglas County
Livestock Association’s Spring Conference on Thursday, April 7, 2022, in Winston.
be completed by June 30,
2023.
There are four major
meat packers in the U.S. —
Cargill, JBS, National Beef
and Tyson. Nash said they
control about 85% of beef
processing.
“Here in the Pacifi c
Northwest for live cattle,
there is no competitive bid,
no open market,” Nash
said. “You deliver your
cattle and they pay you
what they think they’re
worth.”
Nash explained that
large livestock producers
with thousands of ani-
mals broker deals with the
packers. Because of the
volume, those deals aren’t
cost-eff ective for smaller
producers, but that’s what
they’re faced with due to a
lack of competitive bids.
“If I did want to nego-
tiate a price, it would only
be if I could promise to
deliver 1,000 animals in
one day,” Nash said. “The
average producer in Oregon
owns 35 to 40 mother cows
so they have no leverage
in the market when selling
their beef.
“We need those large
facilities to consume large
numbers of cattle in order
to feed our large popu-
lation,” he added. “That
works well for food secu-
rity needs, but small and
mid-size facilities also pro-
vide us with food security.
It’s a good investment for us
to keep them going. All we
can do is encourage that.”
Nash said the four big
packers have been able
to buy cattle cheaply in
recent years after the price
for cattle dropped from a
high in 2014 and 2015. He
explained that retail beef
prices didn’t drop and the
packers “have made mas-
sive profi ts going back to
2015.”
“It’s not a healthy sit-
uation,” Nash said. “We
have to have a competitive
market. We need to invest
and encourage the build-out
of small and medium-size
processors so there’ll be
competition. We need to let
them fl ourish.”
Nash said the mid-size
facilities fi t Oregon better
because they allow beef
products to be tracked
rather than becoming lost
in the process of the big
packers.
“It’s important to the
consumer to know where
the product was raised and
how it was raised,” Nash
said. “That’s where we can
separate ourselves here in
Oregon and capture a few
more dollars in the cattle
and beef process.
“The grants are there to
entice people, to encourage
people to pursue educa-
tion in this area,” he added.
“Hopefully, entrepreneurs
are going to fi gure it out
and improve our facilities.”
USDA has also off ered to
help small and medium pro-
cessors expand.
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