The Biden administration and some cattle producers have blamed meat industry concentration for producers getting a smaller share of the consumer dollar for beef than they did decades ago.

On January 3, 2022, a White House Fact Sheet noted:

"Fifty years ago, ranchers got over 60 cents of every dollar a consumer spent on beef, compared to about 39 cents today. Similarly, hog farmers got 40 to 60 cents on each dollar spent 50 years ago, down to about 19 cents today."

Unfortunately for the White House, the USDA database referenced by the White House Fact Sheet, updated with December 2021 data released by USDA, shows in 2021 beef packers' share of the consumer dollar was 22.2 percent - lower than the producer share. For pork, the packers' average share of the consumer dollar was 18.9 percent in 2021, also lower than the producers' share, which was 25.8 percent in 2021.