ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the adjustments made at the packer level and the impacts on livestock producers. The reported profitability of the meat packing sector of less than one percent of sales is certainly low when compared to other manufacturing enterprises. Meat packing has changed in many critical ways from the earlier period as typified by the industry just prior to the Consent Decree of 1921. Across the meat packing industry, wages averaged $8.47 an hour in 1988. In a more descriptive evaluation dating to the early 1980s, Nelson noted that the rapidly increasing concentration ratios in the sector were alarming to many, but, by most available standards of performance, the results were "consistent with aggressive competitive performance". The decline was less the result of the Decree and more the response to both declining transport costs and mechanical refrigeration. These twin technological changes allowed packing to move nearer the sources of supply and, incidentally, to specialize in one species.
