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Following unanimous passage in the Washington State Senate, a Bill introduced by Senator Judy Warnick will move to the House where passage is expected.  The legislation would allow small and mid-sized processing operations to be eligible for support from the state Processing and Marketing Assistance Program and would also allow cooperation between the state Department of Agriculture and the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. The legislation would establish a grant program to provide funding for processing and inspection activities with Washington State University developing technical support programs for training.

The legislation soon to be adopted in Washington State will be paralleled by other states. Establishing state inspection programs is a direct result of interruption of operation of large plants due to COVID-19, especially from March through May 2020.  Senator Warnick stated, “delays in processing are bad for consumers and our ranchers.  If we can take some of the pressure off the current system by encouraging state inspections and local support of smaller processors of meat and poultry we are going to drastically improve the industry.”

It is evident that the detrimental aspects of concentration among a limited number of companies operating large plants became evident during the COVID crisis. State legislators and farming organizations are pressing for alternatives to the “Big Five” to avert a recurrence and to introduce more competition to benefit ranchers. It is clear that Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack supports this trend.