Meat and poultry production has faced external detractors and socialissues. However, quite frequently, the industry also eats itself from inside. At least in North America, nothing has instigated greater internal strife than has corporate expansion and market power among meat and poultry industry companies, particularly when production ideology is thrown in to the debate. In the U.S., since independent livestock producers began to file antitrust lawsuits against packing and retail companies during the 1960 s and beyond (Justia US Law, 2014; Open Jurist,2014), the concept of corporate expansion has been perceived negatively by many as indicative of greed. Frequently, such perceived greed was considered to be a threat to some livestock producers' “way of life” and livelihood. This paper reflects on the path and characteristics of meat industry
integration, consolidation and globalization, and the current
resulting business climate. In addition, it explores new options for
“local” production possibilities, the antithesis of globalization, which
sometimes includes even urban participants in the production chain