Iowa Beef Prod IBP

=<a href="http://newsenter.org/lubbock/2018/05/05/253811-trump-selects-texas-tech-prof-for-usda-under-secretary-job.html">http://newsenter.org/lubbock/2018/05/05/253811-trump-selects-texas-tech-prof-for-usda-under-secretary-job.html</a>On  his 470th day in the Oval Office, President Donald J. Trump Friday announced his intention to nominate Dr. Mindy Brashears as the U.S. Department of Agricultures (USDAs) next Under Secretary for Food Safety.   It will be many more days before the Texan food safety expert takes office.<div class="clear" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />Brashears, who was an expert witness in the BPI v. ABC trial last summer is a professor of food safety and public health who is also director of the International Center for Food Industry Excellence at Texas Tech University.<div class="special_text2" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, also had positive things to say about Brashears appointment. “Consumers deserve to have confidence that their food is safe and that sound science is used to ensure they have access to the most wholesome products. That is why President Trump’s selection of Dr. Mindy Brashears as Under Secretary for Food Safety is welcome news to America’s farmers and ranchers. Her extensive and innovative track record of improving food safety standards is an excellent fit at USDA, where food safety remains a core part of the agency’s mission, and always a priority for farmers and ranchers,” Duvall said. </div>The departments top job over food safety, which Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue says is at the core of USDAs mission has been vacant for the past 1,604 days.   And it will remain vacant until Dr. Brashears nomination is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.<div class="special_text2" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Brashears is a professor of food safety and public health and the director of the International Center for Food Industry Excellence at Texas Tech University. Brashears’ research program focuses on improving food safety standards to make an impact on public health. In a statement, USDA noted that her highly acclaimed work evaluates interventions in pre-harvest and post-harvest environments and on the emergence of antimicrobial drug resistance in animal feeding systems. These efforts have resulted in commercialization of a pre-harvest feed additive that can reduce Escherichia coli and salmonella in cattle.</div><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 10px; background: linear-gradient(to right, rgb(255, 255, 255), rgb(204, 204, 204)) 0% 0% repeat scroll rgb(255, 255, 255);">Brashears selected for food safety post</h2>USDA unconfirmed nominations ahead of hers include Stephen Alexander Vader as general counsel, Naomi C. Hart as assistant secretary for civil rights, and James E. Hubbard as Under Secretary for natural resources and environment.Perdue Friday pressed the U.S. Senate to take up all our nominations as quickly as possible.  <blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; background: white; border-top: 5px solid rgb(234, 249, 249); border-bottom: 5px solid rgb(234, 249, 249); padding: 10px 10px 10px 90px; position: relative;">Food safety is at the core of USDAs mission, because it directly affects the health and well-being of millions of Americans every day. President Trump has made an excellent choice in Dr. Mindy Brashears, and I am excited to have her join the team. Dr. Brashears has spent decades finding ways to improve food safety standards through innovation, invention, and leadership on research missions across the globe. I look forward to her bringing that wealth of expertise and track record of results here to USDA.</blockquote>Government-wide, the Trump Administration is currently waiting for Senate confirmation on at least 124 additional nominations.  According to the Washington Post/Partnership for Public Services tracking of the top 600 executive positions requiring Senate confirmation, only half are nominated and confirmed.  <blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; background: white; border-top: 5px solid rgb(234, 249, 249); border-bottom: 5px solid rgb(234, 249, 249); padding: 10px 10px 10px 90px; position: relative;">U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue applauded President Donald J. Trumps recent selection of Mindy Brashears to be the U.S. Department of Agricultures Under Secretary for Food Safety. After the announcement, Perdue issued the following statement:</blockquote>The average time to confirm a Trump nominee is taking a historic 84 days.   That means if Brashears wins confirmation, its unlikely she will take over until late summer or early fall at the earliest.<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; background: white; border-top: 5px solid rgb(234, 249, 249); border-bottom: 5px solid rgb(234, 249, 249); padding: 10px 10px 10px 90px; position: relative;">“Consumers deserve to have confidence that their food is safe and that sound science is used to ensure they have access to the most wholesome products. That is why President Trump’s selection of Dr. Mindy Brashears as Under Secretary for Food Safety is welcome news to America’s farmers and ranchers. Her extensive and innovative track record of improving food safety standards is an excellent fit at USDA, where food safety remains a core part of the agency’s mission, and always a priority for farmers and ranchers.”</blockquote><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 10px; background: linear-gradient(to right, rgb(255, 255, 255), rgb(204, 204, 204)) 0% 0% repeat scroll rgb(255, 255, 255);">Secretary Perdue Applauds President Trumps Selection for USDAs Under Secretary for Food Safety</h2>Generally speaking, Senate Democrats cannot defeat Trump nominees, but they can and do use a bag of procedural tricks to delay them from getting to the necessary floor votes.   Secret holds can be placed on a nominee by individual Senators and the minority party can demand 30 hours debate ahead of any nominees floor vote.<div class="special_text2" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The following statement regarding the appointment of Dr. Mindy Brashears as Under Secretary for Food Safety at the Agriculture Department may be attributed to American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall.</div>Once the White House sends over the formal nomination for Brashears to serve as Under Secretary for Food Safety to the Senate, it’s certain to be assigned to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry.<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 10px; background: linear-gradient(to right, rgb(255, 255, 255), rgb(204, 204, 204)) 0% 0% repeat scroll rgb(255, 255, 255);">USDA works to increase ag exports</h2>The appointment of Ken Barbic as USDAs assistant secretary for congressional relations was the most recent to clear the Ag committee and get a favorable floor vote.   It took 103 days.<div class="special_text" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 10px 0px 10px 20px; margin: 10px 5px; font-style: italic; border-left: 5px solid rgb(0, 160, 210); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Background: Dr. Brashears is a Professor of Food Safety and Public Health and the Director of the International Center for Food Industry Excellence at Texas Tech University. Dr. Brashears’ research program focuses on improving food safety standards to make an impact on public health. Her highly acclaimed work evaluates interventions in pre- and post-harvest environments and on the emergence of antimicrobial drug resistance in animal feeding systems. These efforts have resulted in commercialization of a pre-harvest feed additive that can reduce E. coli and Salmonella in cattle. She also leads international research teams to Mexico, Central and South America to improve food safety and security and to set up sustainable agriculture systems in impoverished areas. She is past-Chair of the National Alliance for Food Safety and Security and of the USDA multi-state research group.</div>While Food Safety News last October alone reported that Brashears was one of two candidates for Under Secretary for Food Safety under serious consideration by the White House, she was last in the news during the  June 2017 BPI-ABC trial.<div class="special_text" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 10px 0px 10px 20px; margin: 10px 5px; font-style: italic; border-left: 5px solid rgb(0, 160, 210); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Food safety is at the core of USDA’s mission, because it directly affects the health and well-being of millions of Americans every day. President Trump has made an excellent choice in Dr. Mindy Brashears, and I am excited to have her join the team. Dr. Brashears has spent decades finding ways to improve food safety standards through innovation, invention, and leadership on research missions across the globe. I look forward to her bringing that wealth of expertise and track record of results here to USDA.</div>Her testimony, including a cross-examination that turned combative, likely contributed to the decision by Disney-owned ABC News to reach a settlement favorable to South Dakota-based BPI.  The undisclosed settlement ended a state jury trial tasked with deciding whether ABC News had defamed BPI by repeatedly calling its lean finely textured beef product pink slime.<div class="special_text" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 10px 0px 10px 20px; margin: 10px 5px; font-style: italic; border-left: 5px solid rgb(0, 160, 210); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today applauded President Donald J. Trump’s selection of Dr. Mindy Brashears to be the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Under Secretary for Food Safety. After the announcement, Secretary Perdue issued the following statement:</div>Brashears testified with her smile and Texas twang at trial for BPI as one of the nations top beef safety experts.   She said BPIs textured beef product was definitely meat and definitely beef and not pink slime.   <div class="special_text" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 10px 0px 10px 20px; margin: 10px 5px; font-style: italic; border-left: 5px solid rgb(0, 160, 210); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Dr. Brashears is a Professor of Food Safety and Public Health and the Director of the International Center for Food Industry Excellence at Texas Tech University. Dr. Brashears research program focuses on improving food safety standards to make an impact on public health. Her highly acclaimed work evaluates interventions in pre- and post-harvest environments and on the emergence of antimicrobial drug resistance in animal feeding systems. These efforts have resulted in commercialization of a pre-harvest feed additive that can reduce E. coli and Salmonella in cattle. She also leads international research teams to Mexico, Central and South America to improve food safety and security and to set up sustainable agriculture systems in impoverished areas. She is past-Chair of the National Alliance for Food Safety and Security and of the USDA multi-state research group.</div>Her cross-examination by ABCs attorneys from the prominent Williams & Connolly law firm in Washington D.C. was tough and spirited, but Brashears was still left smiling.   Disney financial statements later indicated ABCs legal settlement with BPI was at least $177 million.<div class="special_text" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 10px 0px 10px 20px; margin: 10px 5px; font-style: italic; border-left: 5px solid rgb(0, 160, 210); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Food safety is at the core of USDAs mission, because it directly affects the health and well-being of millions of Americans every day. President Trump has made an excellent choice in Dr. Mindy Brashears, and I am excited to have her join the team. Dr. Brashears has spent decades finding ways to improve food safety standards through innovation, invention, and leadership on research missions across the globe. I look forward to her bringing that wealth of expertise and track record of results here to USDA.</div>Her highly acclaimed work evaluates interventions in pre- and post-harvest environments and on the emergence of antimicrobial drug resistance in animal feeding systems. These efforts have resulted in the commercialization of a pre-harvest feed additive that can reduce E. coli and Salmonella in cattle, Secretary Perdues statement said.<div class="special_text" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 10px 0px 10px 20px; margin: 10px 5px; font-style: italic; border-left: 5px solid rgb(0, 160, 210); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">(Washington, D.C., May 4, 2018) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today applauded President Donald J. Trumps selection of Dr. Mindy Brashears to be the U.S. Department of Agricultures (USDA) Under Secretary for Food Safety. After the announcement, Secretary Perdue issued the following statement:</div>In addition to her research, Brashears has led international research teams to Mexico, Central and South America to improve food safety and security and to set up sustainable agriculture systems in impoverished areas.Dec. 13, 2013, was the last day Dr. Elizabeth Hagen served as USDAs Under Secretary for Food Safety.  She was nominated in 2010 by President Obama and quickly confirmed by the U.S. Senate.<div class="special_text" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 10px 0px 10px 20px; margin: 10px 5px; font-style: italic; border-left: 5px solid rgb(0, 160, 210); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Her work evaluates interventions in pre- and post-harvest environments and on the emergence of antimicrobial drug resistance in animal feeding systems and has resulted in the commercialization of a pre-harvest feed additive that can reduce E. coli and Salmonella in cattle,” according to the release. She is also a past chair of the National Alliance for Food Safety and Security and of the USDA multi-state research group.</div>A-J Media Mindy Brashears, a professor of food microbiology and food safety in Texas Techs College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, has been selected by President Donald Trump as the new under secretary for food safety in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.<div class="special_text" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 10px 0px 10px 20px; margin: 10px 5px; font-style: italic; border-left: 5px solid rgb(0, 160, 210); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Brashears appeared as an expert witness last year for Beef Products Inc., helping the Sioux City, Iowa, food company negotiate a multimillion settlement from ABC News. The company had sued ABC, alleging it had been disparaged by the news organization when it described a beef product as “pink slime.”  Brashears told the jury that BPI’s lean finely textured beef is meat, is beef, is nutritious and is entirely safe to eat.</div>Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said in a statement issued Friday morning that food safety is at the core of the USDAs mission, because it directly affects the health and well-being of millions of Americans every day.<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; background: white; border-top: 5px solid rgb(234, 249, 249); border-bottom: 5px solid rgb(234, 249, 249); padding: 10px 10px 10px 90px; position: relative;">A rose to … the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which this week highlighted USDAs success and continuing commitment to expanding trade and increasing rural prosperity through ag exports. We encourage leaders at USDA to continue talking up ag trade. The message about the importance of trade to rural America and the nations economy cannot be understated, but it can be undermined with threats of tariffs and suspicious comments about multinational trade agreements.</blockquote>“President Trump has made an excellent choice in Dr. Mindy Brashears, and I am excited to have her join the team. Dr. Brashears has spent decades finding ways to improve food safety standards through innovation, invention and leadership on research missions across the globe. I look forward to her bringing that wealth of expertise and track record of results here to USDA,” Perdue said.According to a bio on Texas Techs website, Brashears is not only a professor in classes such as food microbiology and food safety, but she also serves as the director of the International Center for Food Industry Excellence at Tech. Her research has focused on interventions in pre- and post-harvest environments and on the emergence of antimicrobial drug resistance. Her interests are primarily in meat and poultry products, with some work on spinach. Her work has resulted in the commercialization of pre-harvest feed additives that reduce E. coli and Salmonella in cattle.Perdue said there are still qualified people in addition to Brashears awaiting confirmation to fill key roles at USDA, and urged the Senate to take up all of the nominations as quickly as possible.If Wendy Gramm has her way, she will replace Hillary Clinton in the White House next year. Like Mrs. Clinton, Wendy Gramm is the smart, ambitious wife of a smart, ambitious politician. Her husband Senator Phil Gramm of Texas is a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination. Like Clinton, she too is a graduate of Wellesley College near Boston. Gramm also holds a PhD in economics from Northwestern University in Illinois and has had a successful career apart from her husband.This phenomenon -- spouses with professional careers of their own paired with political candidates -- not only reflects the changing role of women but also creates new ethical dilemmas and ambiguities in election campaigns. Mrs. Gramm is the granddaughter of a laborer in the Hawaian sugar cane fields and the daughter of the first Korean-American officer of a U.S. sugar cane company. Mrs. Gramm declined to be interviewed by FRONTLINE.She and Phil Gramm met in 1969 when the future senator was a professor of economics at Texas A&M University. He interviewed her for a job at the school. "As a single member of the faculty, I'd be very interested in having you come to Texas A&M," she quotes him as saying at the time. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Mrs. Gramm recalled her initial response to his subsequent marriage proposal: "Yuck." Gramm persisted, and the couple wed in 1970 (it was Gramm's second marriage). They have two sons, Marshall and Jeff. In 1979, Phil Gramm, then a Democrat, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Five years later in 1984, he switched his party affiliation to the GOP and won the Senate seat that he still occupies. The move to Washington began a succession of appointed federal jobs for Mrs. Gramm. She headed the economics bureau of the Federal Trade Commission's Division of Consumer Protection and served as administrator of information and deregulatory affairs in the Office of Management and Budget. In 1987 The New York Times described her as "one of the Reagan administration's most vigorous deregulators." President Reagan called her "my favorite economist," naming her chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the powerful regulatory agency which oversees the nation's commodities and futures exchanges.Her dual roles as CFTC head and Senator's wife put her in a difficult position. There were times when Senator Gramm sought the support of some of the same agricultural and business interests that she was regulating. On trips to Texas during his 1989 Senatorial campaign she worked both on CFTC business and for her husband's reelection. After leaving the CFTC in early 1992, Wendy Gramm accepted lucrative directorships on the boards of several corporations she had regulated. Several of these corporations were also financial supporters of her husband's Presidential campaign. One of the boards on which Mrs. Gramm sits is Enron Corporation, a Texas natural gas company, which has given almost $35,000 to Phil Gramm over the years. She was named to the company's board, just five weeks after stepping down from the CFTC, which around the same time, exempted Enron and a group of other oil and gas companies from federal regulation on some of their commodities trading. The move was a big financial boon to Enron.Enron pays Wendy Gramm $22,000 a year for her service on its board, plus $1,250 for every meeting she attends. The CEO of Enron, Kenneth Lay, is regional chair of the Gramm for President Campaign. When Senator Gramm kicked off his campaign last February with a record-setting fund raising dinner, Lay and his wife were present.Another board Wendy Gramm sits on is that of Iowa Beef Processors (IBP), a large meat processing company. Based in Dakota City, Nebraska, IBP is a powerful corporation next door to a key election- year state, Iowa. Support for Senator Gramm at IBP came in handy last August at the Iowa straw poll in Ames. IBP sent a memo to its management level employees encouraging them to attend the straw poll, which is not restricted to Iowa residents, and informing them that $25 tickets and bus transportation would be provided by the Phil Gramm-for-President campaign. Gramm campaign buses picked up the IBP employees at eight separate locations in the states of Iowa, Nebraska, and Illinois and transported them to the straw poll, where their votes helped Gramm tie front-runner Bob Dole and gave the Gramm campaign an important boost.In a written statement to FRONTLINE, an IBP spokesman said, "Many of the campaigns provided tickets and bus transportation to the event, some bringing in people from as far away as Kansas. While the Gramm campaign paid the way for the IBP employees who attended, our people were not told to vote for Senator Gramm or any other candidate."FRONTLINE learned that the request for IBP's help in the straw poll came from the late Alec Courtelis, the former finance chair of the Gramm-for-President campaign. (Courtelis, long a leading Republican fundraiser, died this winter) Courtelis also sat on IBP's board of directors and was responsible for bringing Wendy Gramm onto IBP's board.While no one has accused Mrs. Gramm or anyone else of breaking any laws, the IBP case nonetheless shows how questions can arise when a candidate's spouse is appointed to a well-paying corporate directorship and when that company helps promote the husband's candidacy.<div>
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wiki

IBP, Inc., formerly known as Iowa Beef Processors, Inc., now Tyson Fresh Meats, is an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">American</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meat_packing" title="Meat packing" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">meat packing</a> company based in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_Dunes,_South_Dakota" title="Dakota Dunes, South Dakota" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Dakota Dunes, South Dakota</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA" title="USA" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">USA</a>. IBP was the United States' biggest <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef" title="Beef" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">beef</a> packer and its number two <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork" title="Pork" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">pork</a> processor. To reflect the company's multiple operations, the company changed its name to Iowa Beef Processors, Inc. in 1970. After the company expanded operations to pork and other areas, Iowa Beef Processors, Inc., became IBP, Inc.

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occidental_Petroleum" title="Occidental Petroleum" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Occidental Petroleum</a> owned IBP from 1981 to 1987, and was the majority owner from 1987 to 1991.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBP,Inc.#cite_note-1" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[1]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBP,Inc.#cite_note-2" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[2]</a>

In 1967, IBP introduced boxed beef and pork, which were vacuum packed and in smaller portions. It was a new option then, when the traditional method of shipping product was in whole carcass form. The boxed meat also saved energy and transportation costs by eliminating the shipment of fat, bones and trimmings.

It was acquired by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyson_Foods" title="Tyson Foods" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Tyson Foods</a> in 2001 for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar" title="United States dollar" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">US$</a>3.2 billion in cash and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock" title="Stock" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">stock</a>.

<h2 style="color: black; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">References<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=IBP,_Inc.&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: References" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>

<li id="cite_note-1" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBP,_Inc.#cite_ref-1" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style=" top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up^{</a>} <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/02/business/occidental-to-acquire-iowa-beef.html" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">OCCIDENTAL TO ACQUIRE IOWA BEEF</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-2" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBP,_Inc.#cite_ref-2" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style=" top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up^{</a>} <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://articles.latimes.com/1991-09-05/business/fi-2641_1_iowa-beef" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">Occidental Will Sell Its Stake in Iowa Beef Unit</a></li>

</ol>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Iowa State University. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ciras.iastate.edu/beefmanual/Section3.3.pdf" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 18px; background: url(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Icons-mini-file_acrobat.gif) 100% 50% no-repeat;">"Adding Value to Beef Production - Section 3.3 (PDF file)"</a> (PDF). Retrieved February 25, 2006.</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Ackman, Dan (January 2, 2001). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.forbes.com/2001/01/02/0102topnews.html" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">"Men Of Meat"</a>. Forbes.com.</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Schlosser, Eric (2002). <a class="external text" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Food_Nation" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">"Fast Food Nation"</a>. Houghton Mifflin.</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Bill Ganzel. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe50s/crops_08.html" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">"Beef, Feedlots, and IBP (web page)"</a>. Retrieved April 5, 2008.</li>

</ul>

<h2 style="color: black; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">External links<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=IBP,_Inc.&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: External links" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.tyson.com/Corporate/B2B/FreshMeats" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">Tyson Fresh Meats division</a></li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://motherjones.com/politics/2001/07/chain-never-stops" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">The Chain Never Stops - Eric Schlosser</a></li>

</ul>

==

<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In November of 2004 Smithfield was fined 2 million dollars in civil penalties for twice failing to comply with premerger notification requirements before making stock acquisitions from its competitor, Iowa Beef Processors (IBP) in 1998 and 1999. The company claimed that its IBP stock acquisitions were exempt from filing requirements as they were "solely for the purpose of investment." However, according to the Justice Department, the exemption did not apply as Smithfield was actively considering merging with IBP at the time. According to J. Bruce McDonald, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Department's Antitrust Division:

<dd style=" margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">"Acquisition of stock in a firm that is also being considered as a takeover target or merger partner is not 'solely for the purpose of investment' under the HSR Act and is not exempt from the filing requirements. Ensuring strict compliance with the Act is crucial for effective antitrust enforcement. The Department will continue to closely monitor antitrust compliance in agriculture sectors."</dd>

</dl>

<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 22.4px; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In the fiscal year ending in 2003, Smithfield's revenue was in excess of $9 billion. At the time, IBP was the nation's second largest pork packer. The company is now a wholly owned subsidiary of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tyson_Foods" title="Tyson Foods" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Tyson Foods</a>. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Smithfield_Foods#cite_note-32" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[32]</a>

==

Another board Wendy Gramm sits on is that of Iowa Beef Processors (IBP), a large meat processing company. Based in Dakota City, Nebraska, IBP is a powerful corporation next door to a key election- year state, Iowa. Support for Senator Gramm at IBP came in handy last August at the Iowa straw poll in Ames. IBP sent a memo to its management level employees encouraging them to attend the straw poll, which is not restricted to Iowa residents, and informing them that $25 tickets and bus transportation would be provided by the Phil Gramm-for-President campaign. Gramm campaign buses picked up the IBP employees at eight separate locations in the states of Iowa, Nebraska, and Illinois and transported them to the straw poll, where their votes helped Gramm tie front-runner Bob Dole and gave the Gramm campaign an important boost.

In a written statement to FRONTLINE, an IBP spokesman said, "Many of the campaigns provided tickets and bus transportation to the event, some bringing in people from as far away as Kansas. While the Gramm campaign paid the way for the IBP employees who attended, our people were not told to vote for Senator Gramm or any other candidate."

FRONTLINE learned that the request for IBP's help in the straw poll came from the late Alec Courtelis, the former finance chair of the Gramm-for-President campaign. (Courtelis, long a leading Republican fundraiser, died this winter) Courtelis also sat on IBP's board of directors and was responsible for bringing Wendy Gramm onto IBP's board.

While no one has accused Mrs. Gramm or anyone else of breaking any laws, the IBP case nonetheless shows how questions can arise when a candidate's spouse is appointed to a well-paying corporate directorship and when that company helps promote the husband's candidacy.

----

funding universe

Public Company

Incorporated: 1960 as Iowa Beef Packers

Employees: 38,000

Sales: $12.54 billion (1996)

Stock Exchanges: New York Philadelphia Midwest Pacific

SICs: 2011 Meat Packing Plants; 3111 Leather Tanning & Finishing

Company Perspectives:

IBP's strategic agenda for growth begins&mdash it should--with a "superior value proposition." Our target customers consistently judge our product/service package to be of greater value than our competitors'. Surrounding this is our company's structure--organization and leadership--built and rewarded upon the premise that to be the best is the only acceptable outcome. All of it aimed at executing key business processes with consistent excellence--an outcome achieved by the competency and commitment of the people who run IBP's businesses. These integral elements combine to form our platform of growth.

Company History:

As a company called Iowa Beef Packers, IBP, Inc. helped to revolutionize the meatpacking industry in the early 1960s. This company's continuing success has also been marked, however, by a long series of legal problems and episodes of labor unrest. IBP began in 1961 as Iowa Beef Packers, with a single beef slaughtering plant in the western Iowa town of Denison. A. D. Anderson and Currier J. Holman, two meat-industry veterans, founded the company on a simple idea: that the way meat was processed at the time was antiquated. Their goal was equally simple: to revolutionize the industry by creating "meat factories" that could process meat more efficiently and economically.

The Cattle Trade

Traditionally, cattle in the United States had been raised in the country and then brought by train to the vast stockyards of Chicago, Omaha, and Kansas City, where animals were slaughtered in multi-storied packinghouses. Anderson and Holman located their packing plants in the country, in the center of large cattle producing areas, enabling the company to buy livestock directly from producers. This cut procurement costs by eliminating middlemen and shortening transportation distances. It also minimized the shrinkage and bruising of livestock.

In addition, IBP's plants were built on a simpler and cheaper horizontal, rather than vertical, plan, and made much greater use of automation such as continuous-flow overhead conveyors. Elaborate cooling systems were installed to remedy the common industry problem of shrinkage--moisture loss due to poor refrigeration and packaging methods. IBP also worked to maximize use of beef by-products such as hides and tallow.

From the beginning, Holman and Anderson stressed efficiency and high productivity at a low cost. Managers with meat-industry experience were recruited and all employees were expected to work a six-day week. Cattle buyers drove through the Midwest to buy livestock on the farm rather than wait to buy from middlemen at a stockyard. Inventory was tightly controlled through a two-way radio network that allowed buyers to consult with the main office about immediate demand before any purchase. Once an animal arrived at an IBP plant, the slaughter process was so efficient that it had at most 24 hours to live.

IBP workers, perhaps spurred by the green paint everywhere around them (Anderson selected the color because it was the color of money), were among the most efficient workers in the meatpacking industry, taking just 32 minutes in 1964 to move a steer from plant door to freezer, ready for shipping by rail. Only a few years after the start of operations, IBP had become one of the leading companies in its field.

In creating a labor force to work in its highly automated plants, IBP looked to a non-unionized, unskilled rural populace displaced by increasing mechanization on the farm both to build and to operate its plants. By using sophisticated machinery, IBP "tried to take the skill out of every step" of butchering, as Anderson explained to Newsweek in 1965. "We wanted to be able to take boys right off the farm and we've done it." As late as 1964, IBP workers did not belong to a national union, having organized only on the local level.

Workers Strike, 1965

Along with IBP's strong growth, however, came labor strife. In the spring of 1965, workers at two Iowa plants walked out over issues relating to the right to strike; the conflict became violent before it was settled with the help of Iowa's governor. "We didn't pay enough attention to labor problems, but we don't intend to make that mistake again," one IBP executive told the Wall Street Journal in 1966.

In 1967, IBP introduced a further refinement of the meatpacking process at its Dakota City, Nebraska, plant. Instead of shipping beef to customers in whole-carcass form, as the industry had done for years, IBP began to break down the carcass into smaller, vacuum-packed portions which it shipped in boxes. Removing unwanted fat and bone enabled the company to drastically lower shipping costs. It also fit well into the growing trend to market meat not in traditional butcher shops but in large supermarkets, which appreciated the savings on butchering costs that this new process offered. In addition, better packaging improved the meat's shelf life and flavor. Forbes described the new process as "a triumph of logic." Over a period of time the process was refined so that meat was broken down into 44 primal cuts, thus further eliminating middlemen and maximizing profit for the packer.

IBP's capacity to efficiently produce boxed beef enabled it to continue its strong growth. In 1969, the company ran eight Midwestern beef plants. IBP continued its aggressive growth by taking over Blue Ribbon Beef Pack, Inc., acquiring facilities in LeMars and Mason City, Iowa. In February 1969, however, a civil antitrust suit successfully contested this acquisition on the grounds that it would threaten competition in the purchasing of cattle in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, and South Dakota. A 1970 consent decree forbid IBP to acquire any more beef slaughtering or processing plants in those four states for 10 years, and ordered that the properties acquired from Blue Ribbon be sold. IBP appealed this decision, but sold the smaller of the two plants in 1974.

IBP's policies of innovation and strict control over wages caught up with it in 1969. The Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union (now the United Food and Commercial Workers) saw jobs moving from the urban areas to rural America. Boxed beef also threatened the unions' control over the ultimate carving up of the beef, a job largely restricted to master butchers, who earned high wages and worked limited hours in the backrooms of supermarkets and butcher shops.

The result was friction between IBP and the unions. Most of that friction took place at the company's Dakota City plant, where members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union engaged in five labor disputes between 1968 and 1987. On August 24, 1969, 1,200 union members walked off their jobs at the new Dakota City slaughterhouse, leaving the plant to operate at 50 percent capacity. This was the plant at which IBP had introduced a second level of beef disassembly (called "fabricating"). The union insisted it was striking for higher wages for all IBP employees, and equitable wages for both beef slaughterers and beef fabricators, who were paid less than slaughterers for their allegedly less strenuous work.

Three other IBP plants in Iowa closed in connection with the strike. In October, the company filed a $10 million suit against the union, charging it with sabotage, illegal work stoppages, and walkouts. The union, in turn, filed charges of unfair labor practices against the company with the National Labor Relations Board. IBP was accused of slandering union officials, locking out employees at the three Iowa plants, and failing to bargain in good faith. Before the strike ended on April 13, 1970, there had been one death, 56 bombings, more than 20 shootings, numerous tire slashings, death threats, extensive property damage, and the destruction of fire-bomb of the home of an IBP vice president. In the final settlement, the union gained a salary increase of 20 cents an hour over the wage first offered by IBP, but IBP continued to ignore the "master rate of pay" that other meatpackers paid their employees. In 1977, IBP was finally awarded $2.6 million in damages for union activities during the strike.

Although it appeared that IBP had won significant gains in its showdown with the union, actions taken by Currier J. Holman, one of the company's cofounders, during the period of the strike came back to haunt IBP three years later. Reduced production due to the strike had sharply limited IBP's cash flow, and boxed beef had not yet achieved market acceptance. Against this background, Holman was desperate to crack the New York market in hopes of saving his company. However, the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and the local butchers were determined to keep IBP beef out of New York because they feared it would cost them jobs. Holman made a deal with a meat broker with underworld ties to obtain contracts with New York supermarket chains, paying the broker a surcharge of nearly $1 million on all beef sold within 125 miles of downtown Manhattan over a period of about 30 months. This surcharge was used to pay off union officials and supermarket executives. In March 1973, IBP and Holman were indicted on charges of conspiring to bribe supermarket buyers and union officials.

Trouble in Court, 1970s

A year and a half later, IBP and Holman were convicted of two charges in a New York state court. However, citing IBP's dire financial straits at the time the arrangement was entered into, the judge refused to fine or punish Holman personally and fined the company the nominal sum of $7,000, saying that Holman had been victimized by the corruption of New York's meat business. The company, which had changed its name to Iowa Beef Processors in 1970 to better reflect its business, was hit with another lengthy labor stoppage in Dakota City in 1973, again in the name of higher wages. After 27 weeks, the strike was ended through arbitration, and workers were awarded a substantial pay increase.

During the first half of the 1970s, IBP experienced phenomenal growth. By 1974, it had far surpassed all its rivals, becoming the largest beef packer in the world. In November 1975, the New York deal reared its head again when the company named Walter Bodenstein, the son-in-law of the New York meat broker who had made bribes on IBP's behalf, to a high executive position. When the appointment was announced, the company's financial backers immediately expressed reservations, citing Bodenstein's ties to the mafia, and he resigned amid controversy after a week. The company's standing in the business community was damaged when this and other incidents prompted the Wall Street Journal to run a front-page story a year later noting that IBP was now larger than all five of its nearest competitors put together, and denouncing the company as a magnet for "criminals, gangland figures, civil wrongdoers ... and people engaged in vicious beatings, shootings, and firebombings."

Forbidden by the 1970 consent decree to purchase any new plants in four Midwestern states, IBP expanded into Texas in 1975, building facilities near the large commercial feedlot operations in the Southwest, and into the Pacific Northwest in 1976 through the acquisition and expansion of two plants. IBP continued its expansion in 1980, when it completed construction of the world's largest beef slaughtering facility in Finney County, Kansas, and in 1983, when it acquired and expanded its easternmost facility, in Joslin, Illinois.

In May 1978, the Agriculture Department had dropped an extensive investigation into IBP's suspected attempts to drive other packers out of business after IBP agreed informally not to break the law. But in 1979, Representative Neal Smith of Iowa, a farmer who was chair of a House Small Business Subcommittee, revived the issue by launching an investigation into IBP's allegedly predatory business practices. It was disclosed that the company had violated the Robinson-Patman Act between 1971 and 1975 by offering discounts to customers who bought large quantities of beef. In addition, IBP was convicted of preferential price treatment by a Brooklyn jury in 1981, in connection with price breaks of $10,000 a week given to a New York supermarket chain from 1970 to 1974.

IBP Is Acquired, 1981

In 1981, IBP was purchased by Occidental Petroleum Corporation, the giant energy conglomerate. During the next six years, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Occidental, IBP increased its revenues 53 percent and operating income 92 percent. IBP also added 8,000 employees and operating plants in four additional locations. In 1982, the company was hit by its second violent strike in five years at its Dakota City plant. In early 1977, 1,800 workers had walked off their jobs, demanding higher wages in a violent 14-month strike that ended when IBP brought in strikebreakers and reopened the plant. In 1982, the National Guard was brought in to quell violence, and IBP again used open hiring to resume operations, bringing in 1,400 new workers. Yet another strike began in December 1986. This strike was settled seven months later, as workers successfully resisted company demands for wage concessions. By then, only three of IBP's 14 plants were unionized.

In 1982, IBP moved into the pork industry, and in just six years became a leader in pork packaging. Using the same strategy that had been so successful for IBP's beef-processing operations, IBP's pork division carved out a dominant place in the pork industry. With its expansion into pork, Iowa Beef Processors officially changed its name to IBP, dropping the emphasis on beef. Today IBP is the world's largest producer of fresh pork.

Independent Again, 1987

In 1987, Occidental Petroleum moved to sell off 49 percent of its stock in IBP, reaping a handsome profit. Occidental remained IBP's major shareholder. Although the company was still the world's largest producer of fresh meat, IBP had, by this point, lost much of its reputation as an innovator in the meat-packing business, and the move was seen as a way of fostering the independence necessary for IBP to regain its leading position.

The company also ran afoul of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which slapped the company with a record $2.6 million fine for failing to report worker injuries, and after a review of corrected records, assessed additional fines related to a high incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome (a result of repeated, forceful hand motions such as those used in butchering) found among IBP workers. The company eventually paid reduced fines and agreed to set up a study of the disorder.

In 1989 IBP added a new pork plant in Perry, Iowa; added another in Waterloo, Iowa, in 1990; and the same year opened a beef plant in Lexington, Nebraska. In September 1991 Occidental surrendered the remainder of its holdings in IBP to its shareholders, closing its 10-year participation in the business. In 1993, an Iowa jury slapped a $15 million punitive damages penalty on IBP whom it found guilty in a workers' compensation suit brought by a former employee. The same year IBP purchased a pork plant in Logansport, Indiana, and bought a network of hog-buying stations in the same eastern region of the Corn Belt. IBP's net sales grew almost 5 percent over 1992 because of increases in beef and pork prices, growth in demand for beef products generally, and rising meat sales to Japan and other Asian countries.

In 1994 IBP built ham processing facilities at its Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Madison, Nebraska, locations; purchased Prepared Foods, Inc. from International Multifoods; and bought its first non-U.S. plant by acquiring beef and agribusiness firm Lakeside Farm Industries in Alberta, Canada. In 1995, IBP added its first cow boning plants in Tama, Iowa; Gibbon, Nebraska; and Sealy, Texas, for supplying beef trimmings and boneless cuts of beef to producers of hamburger, sausage, and deli meats, and in the same year purchased and renovated a plant in South Carolina for processing fresh meat into consumer-ready products. IBP also initiated a joint venture with Sand Livestock Systems of Nebraska and Shandong Province of mainland China to construct an integrated pork production plant in China scheduled to begin operation in 1998. On the strength of such aggressive pursuit of export markets, IBP had raised the percentage of overseas sales from only 5 percent in 1985 to 14.4 percent in 1995, with customers in more than 50 countries.

Despite lower exports and a drop in net sales--brought on by tight livestock supplies, a drop in beef product prices, and an E. Coli scare in Japan--IBP's 1996 earnings were the second highest in its history. It added a fourth cow boning plant in Palestine, Texas; built a processing facility at its new Canadian operation; and expanded and upgraded its box handling facilities at some of its beef plants. In early 1997 "60 Minutes" aired a critical piece on the meatpacking industry that targeted IBP as an employer who exploited undocumented Mexican workers to labor for poor wages in dangerous working conditions at its Waterloo, Iowa, plant. IBP countered that it used drug and alcohol testing, job training, and financial assistance to provide its workers with safe and competitively paid jobs and had never been cited by the Immigration and Naturalization Service for employing undocumented workers.

In March 1997 IBP acquired FoodBrands America, Inc., a producer of frozen and refrigerated foods for the restaurant and grocery industry, to diversify its business beyond meat and cattle-based products. In May it also acquired the Bruss Company, a processor of premium beef and pork for restaurants, further enhancing its position in the higher margin food service business. The costs of these acquisitions as well as a continued falloff in exports adversely affected IBP's bottom line, but it viewed its long-term prospects optimistically. U.S. beef exports were expected to surpass the one million ton mark in the late 1990s and improving hog supplies and agricultural conditions and an anticipated increase in global demand for high-protein pork products were expected to lift IBP to record earnings in the late 1990s.

A Look to the Future

IBP remains the world's largest producer of fresh and boxed meat and the largest U.S. exporter of meat and meat by-products. It operates 19 beef and pork plants, and also produces almost 350 allied products such as pharmaceuticals and hides--IBP has built four chrome hide tanneries since 1984 and is now the largest producer of chrome hides in the United States. However, the structure of the meat industry has changed in the 38 years since IBP helped to revolutionize the business, and today the packer faces new challenges, such as the decrease in consumer demand for red meat. The company also faces increased competition from giant agricultural conglomerates such as ConAgra and Cargill.

Despite its checkered past, IBP can point with pride to its tradition of high-quality, low-cost products. Although its marketplace is changing rapidly, the company sees great growth potential in its core meatpacking business. In response to changes, IBP has expanded its nonfood interest significantly, but the company continues to invest in the meat business and a wider variety of products, such as prebutchered, meat case-ready fresh meat products, to maintain its premiere place in the meatpacking industry.

Principal Subsidiaries: IBP International Inc. (IBP International, Inc. Asia, IBP International, Inc. Europe); PBX, Inc.; IBP Foreign Sales Corporation; IBP Hog Markets, Inc. (Heinold Hog Market); IBP of Wisconsin, Inc.; IBP Service Center Corp.; Lakeside Farm Industries Ltd. (Lakeside Packers Ltd.); Prepared Foods, Inc.; Rural Energy Systems, Inc.; Southern Beef Processors, Inc.; Supreme Processed Foods, Inc.; Texas Transfer, Inc.; Bruss Company; FoodBrands America, Inc.

Further Reading:

"A Beef Packing Giant Looks North," Alberta Report/Western Report, October 24, 1994, p. 20.

"Here's the Beef," Forbes, April 13, 1992, p. 144.

"Hog Cycle Victim," Forbes, February 27, 1995, p. 162.

Skaggs, Jimmy M., Prime Cut: Livestock Raising and Meatpacking in the United States 1607-1983, College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1986.

Source: International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 21. St. James Press, 1998.

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