State Rep. David Gregory, R-Sunset Hills, chairman of the newly formed Special Committee on Government Accountability, is leading an initiative to investigate price fixing and other anti-competitive practices in the cattle industry that he says are “unfairly hurting Missouri agricultural producers.”

This is the latest investigation initiated by Gregory, who said he has led “aggressive

investigatory efforts” in the past, including an audit of the Missouri Department of Revenue to find savings for Missouri taxpayers.

Gregory and 26 Missouri House members sent a letter to House Speaker Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, urging his support in an investigation into the meatpacking industry that would be initiated by the Special Committee on Government Accountability.

“We owe it to Missouri cattlemen and farmers to ensure they are not being cheated by unfair and anti-competitive practices and that is why I will be leading an investigation into the meatpacking industry,” Gregory said in a news release.  “As the people’s representatives in Jefferson City the House Special Committee on Government Accountability will do all we can to protect Missourians for anticompetitive practices that harm their livelihoods.”

Gregory said in his announcement that Missouri cattlemen and farmers are being harmed by anti-competitive practices while the meatpacking industry is enjoying all-time highs on the price of beef products. The scope of Gregory’s investigation would include an examination of the meatpacking industry’s efforts at reducing purchase and slaughter volumes of fed cattle; orchestrating and enforcing anti-competitive procurement practices; continuing to import foreign cattle after it became uneconomical; and closing and idling plants.