If I didn’t already loathe Tyson Foods, I certainly would now. ( )

The Robber barons are back and Tysons Foods has a starring role. The meat industry is so heavily concentrated that a few companies are raking in record profits (even during the recession) while consumers pay ever higher prices and farmers receive an ever smaller percentage of the profits. Farmers are pitted against each other in a tournament system that penalizes those whose "feed to pound" ratio is less than the average. Farmers go bankrupt and then the farm is bought by a new farmer who takes out huge loans to buy the newest equipment, until they too go bankrupt. From the perspective of those who work in the slaughterhouses or farms, it's like "The Jungle" all over again. ( )

This book looks at the meat industry, with more of a focus on the chicken industry: the way factory farming built up, the history of it. It started with the chicken industry first via Tyson Foods in 1929 with Jim Tyson. His son, Don, later took over and continued to grow the business, eating up all the different steps in the process, in addition to most of the smaller competitors. They control every step of the chicken business and have incredible power over the farmers, who are often driven to bankruptcy. But the banks continue to fund more farmers to take the places of the bankrupt farmers, because the banks get their money back on those defaulted loans from a federal program (that was not originally meant for this purpose!).

While reading the book, it hadn’t occurred to me to rate it as high as I am, but I feel like my reaction to the book warrants it. The anger, the swearing at the book, the emotions the book brought out it me, I think, warrants the 5 stars. It did make me angry and frustrated that things are going this way, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to stop it… unless the government gets some teeth and stops bowing to the corporate lobbyists for the good of the regular people, the good of the farmers. Well worth the read for anyone who wants to know (and even those who don’t!) what is going on with our modern-day food (or, at least meat) industry. ( )

In The Meat Racket, Christopher Leonard details the rise of Tyson Foods and – as a result of the influence of the business model they pioneered – the rise of large-scale industrialized meat production in the United States in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Mr. Leonard spent much of his journalistic career reporting on Tyson Foods and large-scale industrialized agriculture. He’s exceptionally well informed on the topic of modern agribusiness and this book is as well researched and as well documented as I would expect, presenting volumes of data about Big Agriculture. It’s a testament that the work remains accessible and easily readable throughout.

When it comes to large-scale industrialized agribusiness, there’s a growing popular perception of the inhumane treatment of animals, the destructive environmental impact, and the dangers that the end product poses to our health. Mr. Leonard doesn’t address any of these issues in this book. He focuses his expose on the economic and political impact of Tyson Foods and the industrial agribusiness model that it spawned. In particular, he continually circles back to examine the impact that this business model has on the prosperity and financial security of farmers in rural areas – a real world, boots-on-the-ground view of the day-to-day reality of the little guy in Big Ag.

I think Mr. Leonard’s decision to focus his book on this topic is smart. The issue of how Big Ag affects our economy, our political process, and the livelihood of farmers is an aspect that isn’t well known. This is a part of the story that hasn’t entered popular consciousness in the same way as the associated ethical, environmental, and health concerns, but which is equally damning.

The Meat Racket tells another part of the story that needs to be told.

There are a couple of flaws in the book which bear mentioning.

I was confused in the beginning as to why the book focuses on Tyson Foods. Given the title and subtitle of this work, I expected an expose about the meat industry in general. The connection between Tyson and the rise of Big Ag overall becomes clear as you proceed through the narrative, and the book evolves into a more general expose. The reveal of this is effective. I just wish that connection was made more clear from the beginning, to lessen this confusion with the title.

Mr. Leonard clearly has strong opinions about Tyson Foods and industrialized meat production. I respect his passion but I wish he would have toned it down a bit. Reporting should present research and data, and draw conclusions from the evidence. The conclusions drawn in The Meat Racket are frightening, true, but I feel that this book too often crosses the line into anti-Tyson screed.

I believe the case he makes with this book would be better served and less easily dismissed by those who disagree with him if it was less overtly biased.

That being said, the story of Tyson Foods and the rise of industrialized meat production is damning. It’s difficult to walk away from The Meat Racket without sharing Mr. Leonard’s condemnation. ( )

Fast Food Nation made many people aware of the dangers of our current food system to consumers. The Meat Racket uncovers and explains the development of monopoly in the American meat industry that has largely destroyed the independent family farm level control of meat production. Through careful and thorough research, Leonard is able to explain how a few large companies, led by Tyson in the poultry industry and followed by Smithland and a few others in the pork and beef industries, have entrapped farmers into contract farming that makes them basically powerless employees in vertically integrated production. The meat we buy at the grocery store may have labels that imply different companies produce and market it, but, in fact, most of the meat we eat is produced by a few companies through a system that bankrupts farmers and limits our choices as consumers.Leonard uses lots of examples but he is also careful to demonstrate that his examples are representative of what is happening across the nation. I thought I was well informed on this topic, but Leonard's book clarifies food production trends that are troubling for consumers and farmers alike. ( )