An Industry of Animals

Consolidation and Concentration in the U.S. Meat and Poultry Industry

1

By Galen Karlan-Mason

December 15, 2017

“I understand the frustrations (farmers have),” said agricultural economist Stephen Koontz while speaking on growing consolidation in the livestock industry, “But at the same time it is the industry we have because it makes us the most money.”2

If one seeks to understand the dynamics and paradox of the free market and industry consolidation and concentration, there is no better place to look than the United States meat and poultry industry. Since the mid-1900s, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have dictated the shape of our food system. The combination of both horizontal and vertical integration has enabled incredible growth for top meat and poultry packers, who as a result have been able to cut supply-chain costs and respond to changing consumer preferences with new “value-added” products. Nonetheless, this quest for higher margins has come at the expense of the very people who raise our nation's livestock.

In this essay, we will explore how leaders of the meat and poultry industry have used M&A to gain control of their markets and how an industry when left to its own devices can work against its own best interests.

Industry Consolidation vs. Industry Concentration

Industry consolidation is the process by which companies vertically or horizontally integrate. A company can achieve horizontal and vertical integration with expansion of their business operations, or by merging with and/or acquiring complementary businesses.

Industry concentration is a factor of how many competitors exist within a particular industry. A high concentration means the largest firms in an industry control a large market share. In a highly-concentrated industry, market power is in the hands of only a few companies.3 Industry concentration can be the result of consolidation.

The U.S. Meat and Poultry Industry

According to a study conducted in 2016 by the North American Meat Institute (NAMI), the U.S. meat and poultry industry contributes $1.02 trillion to the U.S. economy, approximately 5.6% of GDP.4 NAMI calculated that roughly 5.4 million jobs exist as a result, generating annual wages of about $257 billion. Additionally, the study “identified $108.42 billion in revenues for the federal, state, and local governments generated by traditional direct taxes paid by meat and poultry companies and their employees.”5 In 2016, the U.S. meat and poultry industry accounted for roughly 12% of the country’s agricultural exports.6 Sizable contributions such as these to the American economy must be acknowledged as we consider the competitive landscape.

The “meat and poultry” industry encompases the raising, slaughtering, processing, packaging and distribution of animals for our consumption. This includes cattle, pigs, chicken, turkey, goats, etc.. Nonetheless, the livestock which represent the vast majority of the meat and poultry industry are cattle, pigs and chicken, and for the purpose of this paper, we will only consider markets for beef, pork and poultry.

The U.S. meat industry is incredibly consolidated and competition is concentrated between only a few major players. In the beef industry, just four companies control at least 75% of the market.7 In 2014, Tyson Foods controlled a quarter of the market, while JBS USA held 22%, followed by Cargill and National Beef with 19% and 10%, respectively.

In 2014, the Pork market was dominated by just five companies representing approximately 70% of the market. Smithfield Foods, Inc. had 26%, while Tyson Foods had 17%, JBS USA had 11%, Cargill had 9%, and Hormel Foods had 8%. Finally, the poultry market is no exception to industry-wide consolidation. In 2014, five companies controlled nearly 60% of the market. Tyson Foods and Pilgrim’s Pride8 were (and remain) clear market leaders, with 21% and 18%; they were trailed by Sanderson Farms (7%), Perdue Farms (7%) and Koch Foods (6%). While not all of these companies have grown their market share since 2014, the portion of each market owned by just a handful of companies has continued to increase. Tyson Foods and JBS USA are the two most dominant meat and poultry producers in the United States, together representing roughly 30% of pork production, 40% of poultry production and nearly 50% of beef production.

The New Agricultural Era

Horizontal mergers have been a characteristic of the U.S. agricultural industry since modern industrialization and mechanization began to transform the American food system following WWII. In fact, in the late 1950s, then U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Ezra Taft Benson, called on farmers to “get big or get out”9, and that's exactly what they did. Only forty years later the U.S. had less than half the number of farms in operation as it did in 1950, while the average farm size had more than doubled.10 Farmers who had once raised various types of animals and cultivated many vegetable crops shifted to monocropping as ‘specialization’ became essential to minimizing costs and maximizing output. Through this process, meat, poultry and dairy production were separated from other agricultural practices. Processing and packaging plants began to specialize too and separate facilities were created to focus on distinct segments of a product’s life cycle. A highly-efficient system of specialized supply chains was developed, and “farmers, once skilled in a breadth of trades, fell into more specialized roles.”11 The 20th century featured an influx of new farming and food processing technologies. A massive decline in employment associated with U.S. agriculture ensued, and the portion of the U.S workforce tied to agricultural practices dropped from 41% to just 2% by the end of the decade.12 Nonetheless, the U.S agricultural industry enjoyed tremendous increases in output as a result of these new production methods and cost efficiencies. Independent, family-owned farms’ operational scale and potential sales grew but so did their dependency on large buyers.

Changing Times Change Consumer Preferences

U.S. consumer preferences have shifted dramatically since the 1950s, and as workforce and household demands have evolved so has the demand for portioned and prepared foods. A study on trends in U.S. home food preparation, by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, found that between 1965 and 2008, “The percentage of daily energy consumed from home food sources and time spent in food preparation decreased significantly for all socioeconomic groups...with the largest declines occurring between 1965 and 1992.13 American women's’ transition into the workforce and away from domestic duties as ‘housewives’ is a leading factor behind the decline in time spent preparing and cooking food in American households. The Atlantic published, in its September 1986 issue, an article titled “Women in the Work Force”. It noted that workforce participation by married women (25 to 44 years old) had “increased dramatically—from 26 percent in 1950 to some 67 percent in the mid-1980s.”14 Additionally, mass production of the modern refrigerator and freezer did not begin until after World War II; it was only once consumers had this technology that the potential for processed meats could be realized.15

As the U.S. meat and poultry industry has matured and demand (for meat and poultry) has stabilized, large processors’ opportunities for organic growth have dwindled. As a result, industry leaders frequently look to mergers and acquisitions as a way to capture more market share, increase their earnings, and reduce costs.

Industry leaders can expand their product lines and purchasing power through horizontal integration. Conventional meat and poultry processors can also penetrate specialty markets by acquiring premium producers and brands (selling ‘natural’, organic, ‘free from’ products) that cater to health conscious and environmentally conscious consumers. Finally, by integrating vertically, its possible for meat and poultry producers to better control costs and mitigate supply-chain risk.

Tyson Foods and JBS USA

A closer look at Tyson Foods and JBS USA, the two largest meat and poultry producers in the United States will help us better understand why the industry has become so concentrated. Through the lense of these two companies we can see how market conditions and evolving consumer preferences have incentivized consolidation.

Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN) is a publicly traded, American-owned company with a market cap of $29.88 billion16 and operations in the United States, India and China. Although its origins were strictly in chicken production and processing, Tyson Foods is now the second largest processor of beef, pork and chicken in the world. Tyson is also the largest U.S. exporter of beef. In 2016, the company reported revenues of $36.88 billion and a 7.67% operating margin which left Tyson with an operating profit of $2.83 billion.17 The company’s product lines encompass everything from value-added beef, pork and chicken to processed meat and bread products, and “commodity chicken, beef, and pork.”18 Tyson Food brands include: Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Sara Lee, Ball Park, Wright, Aidells, and State Fair. (See Exhibit A).

JBS USA Holdings, Inc. is a privately held, American company and a subsidiary of Brazilian-owned meat processor JBS SA, with operations in the United States. JBS SA is publicly traded on the brazilian stock exchange (BVMF: JBSS3) with a market cap of $24.23 billion.19 JBS SA is the “world’s largest animal protein company”, with operations in Brazil, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.20 In 2014, beef sales contributed to 62% of JBS SA revenues, while chicken sales represented 24% and pork sales 10%.21 The majority of JBS SA chicken sales come from Pilgrim’s Pride, Corp. (NASDAQ: PPC), the second largest producer of U.S. poultry22, in which JBS USA holds a 78.5% controlling interest stake. The remaining 21.5% stake of Pilgrim’s Pride is traded publicly with a market cap of $7.99 billion23. JBS USA is also the second largest pork producer in the U.S.24 In 2016, JBS USA reported revenues of $33.84 billion and a EBITDA margin of 5.85% which left the company with an EBITDA of $1.98 billion.25 The company’s product lines encompass everything from fresh and frozen beef, pork and chicken to packaged deli meats, bacon, chicken sausage and nuggets. JBS USA also owns JBS Five Rivers Cattle Feeding LLC, the largest cattle feeder in the world.26 JBS USA brands include: Moyer, Showcase, Plumrose and Swift. (See Exhibit C). Pilgrim’s Pride brands include: Pilgrim’s, Gold Kist Farms, Gold’n Plump and Just Bare Chicken. (See Exhibit B).

Growth Through Consolidation

Tyson Foods

John W. Tyson, founder of Tyson, began the business in Springdale, Arkansas, “raising chicks and grinding feed for local chicken farmers.”27 John said, "I decided early that, if you had the best chicks in the area, you’d have the best customers and get the best results."28 Tyson was first incorporated in 1947 as Tyson Feed & Hatchery Inc. with the premise of “providing three essential services: the sale of baby chicks, the sale of feed, and the transportation of chickens to market.”29 Nonetheless, because Tyson ran operations both upstream and downstream of the chicken processor, its supply chain bottlenecked if the capacity of its partner’s processing plant was insufficient. After a deal fell through in the 1950s to bring a processor to the immediate area, Tyson decided to invest and build its own processing facility. The plant opened in 1958, marking the first time the company “controlled the process from breeder farm to ice-packed broiler.”30 Tyson was completely vertically integrated into the chicken supply-chain, with the exception of ‘chicken farming’ which remained in the hands of local farmers.

In 1963 Tyson Feed & Hatchery went public and became, Tyson Foods, Inc. The capital raised from the initial public offering enabled the company to expand its operations nationally with a series of acquisitions “in every direction”31. In order to capture growing demand for prepared meats and ‘ready-made meals’, Tyson introduced in 1976 its first fully-cooked and breaded chicken patties, as well as new chicken cuts (aka portions) under various trade names. In 1980, Tyson introduced its first fully-cooked, breaded line under the name “Chick’n Quick”. In 1989, Tyson Food acquired Holly Farms Corp. a Memphis-based “diversified food company with about 50 percent of its sales in chicken.32 With the acquisition of Holly Farms for $1.29 billion33, Tyson nearly doubled its share of the U.S. poultry market34 to become “the world's largest fully-integrated producer, processor, and marketer of poultry-based food products.”35 Tyson’s acquisition of Holly Farms set an industry precedent for large-scale competitive takeovers as a viable means of accelerating growth and expanding in both domestic and international markets.

Tyson’s Key Acquisitions in the U.S.

1997 - Hudson Foods Inc.

• Purchase price = $682 million36
• Hudson Foods was a fellow Arkansas native meat and poultry processor and a direct competitor of Tyson Foods.
• Tyson seized an opportunity to buy Hudson (excluding its beef division) at a discounted price after the company was forced to recall 25 million pounds of beef due to potential E. coli contamination.37

2001 - Iowa Beef Producers, Inc. (IBP)

• Purchase price = $3.2 billion38
• IBP was then the largest beef packer and number two pork processor in the U.S.39
• IBP subsidiary Foodbrands America, Inc. “produces and markets frozen and refrigerated processed food products to the foodservice industry.”40
• The addition of IBP and Foodbrands America made Tyson the world’s largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork in 2001.41

2014 - The Hillshire Brands Company

• Purchase price = $7.75 billion42
• Hillshire was a worldwide leader in branded foods, supplying retail and foodservice with packaged meat products like hotdogs, sausage and deli meats.

2017 - AdvancePierre Foods Holdings, Inc.

• Purchase price = $4.2 billion43
• AdvancePierre is a national supplier of value-added proteins, ready-to-eat lunch and dinner sandwiches, sandwich components and snacks to foodservice, retail, and schools.

JBS USA

The pressure on JBS SA to enter the U.S. meat and poultry industry increased as major players in the U.S. markets consolidated and concentration grew. The United States is the largest producer of beef and poultry worldwide and one of the largest producers of pork (second only to China).44 Furthermore, Americans consume more meat per capita than any other population in the world.45 JBS SA entered the U.S market in 2007 with its $1.4 billion46 acquisition of Swift & Company, Inc. (aka Swift). Swift was the third largest U.S. beef and pork processor at the time;47 the company also sold dairy and grocery products. Following the acquisition, JBS SA changed the name of Swift & Company to JBS USA.

JBS’s Key Acquisitions in the U.S.

2008 - Smithfield Beef Group, Inc.

• Purchase price = $565 million48
• Smithfield Beef engaged in beef processing and cattle feeding and supplied products to retailers and foodservice as a business unit of Smithfield Foods, Inc.
• Smithfield Beef owned a 50% stake in Five Rivers Cattle Feeding LLC (“Five Rivers”) and as part of the deal JBS negotiated to purchase the remaining 50% stake in order to assume full ownership of Five Rivers.
• The addition of Five Rivers made JBS the largest cattle feeder in the world.49

2009 - Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (PPC)

• Purchase price = $800 million
• PPC was the second largest poultry processor in the U.S. at the time, “with operations in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Mexico.”50

2015 - Cargill’s U.S. Pork Business

• Purchase Price = $1.45 billion51
• Cargill’s U.S.-based pork business was a U.S leader in pork processing, with fresh, frozen and processed pork products. The acquisition also included four hog farms and five feed mills.52

2017 - GNP Company (GNP)

• Purchase price = $350 million53
• GNP was a leading provider of branded, value-added chicken products in the upper-Midwest, supplying retail and foodservice.54 GNP was folded into Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.

2017 - Plumrose USA

• Purchase price = $230 million55
• Plumrose USA was the US-based division of Danish Crown A/S, an international meat processor and Europe’s largest pork producer. The company produces and distributes packaged pork products to retail and foodservice across the United States.
• **

The highlighted acquisitions by Tyson Food and JBS USA tell a story of two industry leaders fighting for market position and higher margins. Meat and poultry are essentially commodities, so processors pursue any opportunity to control their market and ‘add-value’ to their products. In fact, there’s no better example than Tyson’s acquisition of The Hillshire Brands Company in 2014. Pilgrim’s Pride made the first offer, attempting to acquire Hillshire at $45/share, but two days later Tyson made an offer of $50/share. PPC raised its offer to $55/share; Tyson responded with a second offer of $63/share to closed the deal. When the bidding war subsided, Tyson was left to pay a premium of nearly 70% for Hillshire, which was trading at $37/share before Pilgrim’s initial offer.56 The $7.7 billion acquisition was the largest ever in the meat and poultry industry. Many analysts criticized Tyson’s decision to pay so much, but losing the Hillshire brand portfolio (see Exhibit A) to JBS USA was something management couldn’t afford. John Baumgartner, an analyst with Wells Fargo Securities, said it best, "Tyson could hypothetically build [its own] brands organically, but that's going to take quite a long period of time."57 Both Tyson and JBS USA acquired a mix of companies which have helped them expand their value-added product lines, improve their branding and minimize the cost of inputs upstream in their supply chains.

Tyson and Pilgrim’s Pride Complete Vertical Integration

These two companies derive power and agility from their vertically-integrated supply chains which allow them to capitalize on nearly any opportunity presented to the industry. Tyson Foods and JBS USA are on their way to achieving complete vertical integration into all of three of their major supply chains (beef, pork and poultry); each has already attained complete vertical integration into its poultry supply chain.

Tyson and Pilgrim own and operate every aspect of their supply chain with the exception of the “Breeder Farms” and “Broiler Farms” (herein referred to together as “contract farms”) which are run by contracted growers. (See Exhibit F for a visual of the poultry supply chain). Breeder chickens and broilers are raised by farmers who are required to follow a strict set of operating guidelines outlined in their contract. The birds are owned by the contracting company. Furthermore, the poultry processor provides its contract farmers with chicks, feed, and medicine. In this way, Tyson and PPC can leverage their scale to secure discounted input prices58 relative to what farmers would procure on their own.59 Meanwhile, contract farms assume the greatest risk, with ever-looming threats of viral infections, diseases (like the Avian flu) and oversupply.

Consequence(s) of Consolidation

“Largely as a result of consolidation, most food production in the U.S. now takes place on massive-scale operations. Half of all U.S. cropland is on farms with at least 1,000 acres (over 1.5 square miles). The vast majority of U.S. poultry and pork products comes from facilities that each produce over 200,000 chickens or 5,000 pigs in a single year, while most egg-laying hens are confined in facilities that house over 100,000 birds at a time.”60

Large-scale farming poses significant challenges for farmers if they are the only unintegrated segment of a consolidated supply chain, in a highly-concentrated industry. Independent farmers are finding themselves increasingly dependent on a limited number of large processors. Multiple buyers are needed in order to have a competitive bidding process. However, if a market is so concentrated that there are only a handful of eligible companies to sell products to, the bargaining power rests with the buyer.

Farmers Lose

The live cattle market (cattle sold for slaughter) has seen a sharp decline in the number of competitive producers. As of 2017, the top four beef companies in the United States (JBS, Cargill, Tyson and National Beef) control 85% of the industry61 “In many regions of the country, independent ranchers must sell into a market with only one buyer. Even in regions where two meatpackers show up to beef auctions, ranchers report that those major players often won't compete against one another.”62 Independent ranchers usually must take whatever price is offered to them, even when it's not enough. The effect is that there is a growing disconnect between the price paid and the real cost of rearing the animal. Many farmers can no longer support their operational costs and are forced to sell their farms. According to the USDA, the number of cattle farms dropped nearly 50 percent between 2007 and 2012.63

Livestock farmers living in major agricultural states once had some legal protection against vertical integration and oligopoly pricing. For decades, state legislation, known to the industry as “packer bans”, prevented slaughterhouse operators from owning livestock or land. Packer bans were a barrier to contract farming and forced producers to buy livestock in a competitive process, on the open market. Nonetheless, “over the past 10 years, America’s big meatpacking corporations have successfully pushed to overturn most of those laws. A turning point occurred in 2003, when the Eighth Circuit Court ruled that Iowa’s packer ban violated the Commerce Clause of the Constitution by discriminating against out-of-state corporations. A similar argument was used to overturn South Dakota’s packer ban that same year.64 Packer bans could not have eliminated the consequences of lost bidding competition due to industry concentration, but they would have inhibited an industry-wide shift towards contract farming.

Farmers in need of big customers will sign contracts that give the producer control over them and their farm. Before or soon after signing, they are asked to make “upgrades” to their livestock housing in order to remain compliant with company standards. Many farmers report that some of the upgrades are unnecessary and/or downgrade animal welfare conditions in order to maximize production. It costs roughly $250,000 to build one henhouse, and it's recommended that farmers operate at least four houses in order to achieve a “basic level of income.”65 For most farmers, this means assuming a considerable amount of debt.

Leading meat and poultry producers will often offer farmers financing, promising them an opportunity in which the reward far outweighs the risk. Nevertheless, “the process by which farmers are paid is highly opaque, with little opportunity for farmers to negotiate a higher price.”66 In some cases, contract farmers will remain indebted to the contracting company for years, never earning enough to repay the loans they were encouraged to incur in order to avoid violating their contract. Some farmers have even tried to organize others to lobby for protective legislation, only to have their contracts go unrenewed the following year.67 When asked to comment on the transparency of the contract system, Worth Sparkman, a spokesperson for Tyson Foods said, “Our average contract farmer has been raising chickens for us for 15 years [and] the compensation we provide is set out clearly in contracts the farmers voluntarily enter into…farmers are also free to switch to other chicken processors who operate in their area.”68 However, there are rarely multiple big buyers in one area, making it easy for meat and poultry producers to exploit farmers who depend on their business.69 “The relationship between company and contract farmer has changed dramatically over time, to the point that the farmers are treated as employees in many ways, without receiving any of the benefits, yet retaining all the obligations and risk that independent contractors have.”70

American farmers enjoy very little of the upside associated with strong market demand yet absorb a significant share of the downside shock when there is oversupply.

The lack of competition between meat and poultry producers means that they can keep payment to their contract farmers low, even when demand is high. Furthermore, producers have freedom to re-negotiate payment with their contract farmers at least once a year and therefore can easily transfer to their farmers the burden of depressed prices in times of excess supply. In 2018, “Increased production is expected to create margin pressure along the supply chain, with food retailers and food service companies best placed to benefit.”71 This should come as no surprise. Producers like Tyson and JBS USA have invested heavily into value-added, packaged and ready-made meat and poultry products in order to maximize their profitability.

Despite its drain on farmers, contract farming is growing in popularity. Top meat and poultry processors, Tyson and JBS USA have reaped the benefits of their upstream integration into poultry supply chains and are taking steps to replicate the model within their beef and pork operations. Other major processors who do not follow suit may sacrifice their ability to offer competitive prices and risk losing their farmers to competitor contracts. But if they do follow suit, the industry becomes increasingly more vulnerable to losing its farmers.

Conclusion

The nature of the U.S. meat and poultry industry has fostered consolidation. With the majority of inputs as commodities and the final products arguably commodities themselves as well, competitors in the middle of the supply chain must shift outwards if they hope to survive, let alone thrive. Cost control is essential to remaining profitable. Purchasing power and therefore market share is key to remaining competitive. And value-adding is how you get ahead. “Supply chains that are well connected to markets, and most agile and innovative in responding to these opportunities, will be best placed to benefit."72 Time and time again, corporations and the governing bodies that oversee them weight too highly short-term rewards, without reconciling the future implications of their actions.

The United States meat and poultry industry is a demonstration of how unregulated consolidation will inevitably lead to industry concentration and the makings of an oligopoly. Meat and poultry producers can either become fully vertically integrated and take real ownership of rearing their animals, reconsider their contract system or continue as they are and squeeze American livestock farmers until there's none left. Tyson Foods and JBS USA must make a choice, for inaction is an action unto itself, and the farmer is not a commodity.

Appendix

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

Exhibit D (JBS USA Plants)

Exhibit E

(Tyson Plants)

Exhibit F

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http://s1.q4cdn.com/900108309/files/doc_financials/2016/Annual/TSN-FY16-Form-10-K.pdf

“U.S. Cattlemen See Opportunity to Reopen JBS Anti-Trust Issue.” Food Safety News, 12 June 2017, www.foodsafetynews.com/2017/06/cattlemen-see-opportunity-to-re-open-jbs-anti-trust-issues-in-u-s/#.WjH_iraZM8Y.

“Why Tyson Foods Is Investing in Alternative Proteins.” Fortune, fortune.com/2017/03/03/tyson-foods-new-ceo-acquisitions/.

“Yearly Q&A with Steve Kay: What Will Happen to Beef Trade?” Drovers, www.drovers.com/article/yearly-qa-steve-kay-what-will-happen-beef-trade.

Zacks.com. “Can Tyson Foods' Expansion in Protein-Rich Space Spur Growth?” NASDAQ.com, Nasdaq, 12 Dec. 2017, www.nasdaq.com/article/can-tyson-foods-expansion-in-protein-rich-space-spur-growth-cm890359.

1. https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/c/consolidate.asp↩
2. Gerlock, Grant. “Consolidation In The Livestock Industry May Get A Boost Since Proposed USDA Rule Won't Take Effect.” Iowa Public Radio, 17 Nov. 2017.↩
3. Gustavo Grullón, Larkin, Y., Michaely, R. “Are U.S. Industries Becoming More Consolidated?” Cornell Tech and IDC. June 2016↩
4. Heneghan, Carolyn. “Report: US Meat and Poultry Industry Contribute $1.02T to National Economy.” Food Dive, 16 June 2016.↩
5. Ibid.↩
6. “Yearly Q&A with Steve Kay: What Will Happen to Beef Trade?” Drovers.↩
7. Adam Jones. “Tyson Foods Commands 24% Of The Beef Market.” Market Realist. 11 Dec. 2014.↩
8. JBS USA owns a controlling interest in Pilgrim’s Pride.↩
9. Driver, Kelly, and JH Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Industrialization of Agriculture.” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 5 Aug. 2016.↩
10. Ibid.↩
11. Ibid.↩
12. Ibid.↩
13. Smith, L P, et al. “Trends in US Home Food Preparation and Consumption: Analysis of National Nutrition Surveys and Time Use Studies from 1965-1966 to 2007-2008.” Nutrition Journal., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 11 Apr. 2013.↩
14. Guilder, George. “Women in the Work Force.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 1 Sept. 1986.↩
15. History of the Refrigerator, 01 Jan. 2005.↩
16. Google Finance, 15 Dec. 2017.↩
17. Tyson Foods, Inc. “Form 10-K” United States Securities and Exchange Commision, 01 Oct. 2016.↩
18. Adam Jones. “Vertical Integration Keeps Tyson Foods On Top Of Chicken Market.” Market Realist, 11 Dec. 2014.↩
19. reb123z. “JBS S.A. (JBSS3) Jumps 1.49% on Dec 15.” KL Daily , Wolcott Daily, 15 Dec. 2017.↩
20. http://jbss.infoinvest.com.br/static/ptb/localizacao-e-areas-de-atuacao.asp?idioma=ptb↩
21. equity, Calvin Ott Long/short. “JBS Corporation: Getting To Know One Of The Largest Food Companies In The World.” Seeking Alpha, 21 Apr. 2015.↩
22. “Advertisement.” WATTAgNet.↩
23. Google Finance, 15 Dec. 2017.↩
24. http://jbss.infoinvest.com.br/enu/3986/Earnings%20Release%204Q16%20%28Final%29.pdf↩
25. Ibid.↩
26. Smithfield Foods, Inc. Meat Products, Smithfield Foods Company USA, “Smithfield foods and jbs announce agreement to sell beef processing and cattle feeding operations to jbs.”↩
27. “Heritage.” Tyson Foods.↩
28. Ibid.↩
29. Ibid.↩
30. Ibid.↩
31. Ibid.↩
32. “Tyson Foods Bids For Holly Farms.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Oct. 1988.↩
33. Oklahoman. “Tyson, Holly Farms Complete Merger.” NewsOK.com, NewsOK, 13 Aug. 1989.↩
34. Tyson Foods, Inc. Encyclopedia of Arkansas.↩
35. “Heritage.” Tyson Foods.↩
36. Lee, Louise. “Tyson to Acquire Hudson Foods In Deal Valued at $682 Million.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 5 Sept. 1997.↩
37. Ibid.↩
38. “Tyson Foods.” Crunchbase.↩
39. “Heritage.” Tyson Foods.↩
40. Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg.↩
41. “Heritage.” Tyson Foods.↩
42. “Tyson Foods.” Crunchbase.↩
43. “Tyson Foods.” Crunchbase.↩
44. “Meat and Seafood Production & Consumption.” Our World in Data.↩
45. Ibid.↩
46. “Tyson Foods.” Crunchbase.↩
47. Mega Acquisitions Keep Stunning the Industry, MEAT+POULTRY.↩
48. Smithfield Foods, Inc. Meat Products, USA.↩
49. “JBS.” JBS USA.↩
50. Ibid.↩
51. “JBS.” Crunchbase.↩
52. “JBS USA Pork Agrees to Purchase Cargill Pork Business.” JBS USA Pork Agrees to Purchase Cargill Pork Business | Cargill.↩
53. “Pilgrim's Pride Strengthens Branded Portfolio with Agreement to Purchase GNP Company.” (NYSE:PPC), 29 Nov. 2016.↩
54. Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg.↩
55. “JBS.” Crunchbase.↩
56. Mattioli, Dana, et al. “Tyson Wins Battle to Buy Hillshire.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 8 June 2014.↩
57. Ibid.↩
58. Corn and soybean meal for feed account for approximately 70% of chicken segment costs.↩
59. Adam Jones. “Vertical Integration Keeps Tyson Foods On Top Of Chicken Market.” Vertical Integration Keeps Tyson Foods On Top Of Chicken Market - Market Realist. 11 Dec. 2014.↩
60. Driver, Kelly, and JH Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Industrialization of Agriculture.” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 5 Aug. 2016.↩
61. Douglas, Leah. “Mr. President, Will You Help US Ranchers?” CNN, Cable News Network, 24 Jan. 2017.↩
62. Ibid.↩
63. Gerlock, Grant. “Consolidation In The Livestock Industry May Get A Boost Since Proposed USDA Rule Won't Take Effect.” Iowa Public Radio, 17 Nov. 2017.↩
64. “Nebraska's Livestock Market Faces Death by Big Meat Lobbying.” Fortune.↩
65. Moodie, Alison. “Fowl Play: the Chicken Farmers Being Bullied by Big Poultry.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 22 Apr. 2017.↩
66. “Nebraska's Livestock Market Faces Death by Big Meat Lobbying.” Fortune.↩
67. Moodie, Alison. “Fowl Play: the Chicken Farmers Being Bullied by Big Poultry.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 22 Apr. 2017.↩
68. Ibid.↩
69. Moodie, Alison. “Fowl Play: the Chicken Farmers Being Bullied by Big Poultry.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 22 Apr. 2017.↩
70. Ibid.↩
71. Rae, Sally. “Production Upturn Will Boost Beef, Pork Competition in 2018.” Otago Daily Times Online News, 3 Dec. 2017.↩
72. Rae, Sally. “Production Upturn Will Boost Beef, Pork Competition in 2018.” Otago Daily

Times Online News, 3 Dec. 2017,↩