ハイプレーンズにおけるフィードロットの展開と牛肉加工業の垂直的統合

カンザス州南西部を中心にして

抄録

The High Plains regions of the western United States, once called the Great AmericanDesert, recently emerged as a center of beef production. This paper examines the development process of cattle feedlots and beef packing plants and the vertical integration attained by major agribusinesses in southwestern Kansas.
The Arkansas River valley in southwestern Kansas has retained optimal conditions forcattle fattening since the late nineteenth century. Prior to the advent of irrigation farming, cattle were grazed on native grassland and stubbles of wheat and milo (grain sorghum), while the region was an important winter refuge to which cattle were brought from other grazing areas. The beet sugar factory operated in Garden City during the first half of the twentieth century also provided cattle with excellent feed.
Cattle finishing began with farmer feedlots where grain growers fattened their cattle, depending on subsistent feed harvested within their farms. The number of feedlots increased from the late 1960s through 1980 as the plentiful ground water resources of the Ogallala Aquifer were exploited using center pivot irrigation systems, and feed crop production increased rapidly. Although the majority of farmer feedlots went out of business with a return to grain farming by the 1980s due to unstable beef prices, the number of commercial feedlots, owned and operated by agribusiness firms and depending entirely on purchased feed, increased. The total number of feedlots decreased after 1980, while the sizes of feedlots expanded and their integration proceeded. Some commercial feedlots developed into corporate custom feedlots by expanding feeding capacity and diversifying business operations.
The development of cattle feeding in the High Plains promoted a locational shift ofAmerican beef packing industry. It was traditionally found in and around large cities adjacent to stockyards. Large packers, such as IBP, originated in the Corn Belt to take advantage of feed supplies and to secure easy access to feedlots, began to establish new packing plants in the High Plains. Monfort and Excell, two other major beef packers, also expanded their beef packing operations in the High Plains by either initiating or purchasing beef packing plants. New developments in marketing such as refrigerated boxed meat also promoted such locational shifts. Four major beef packers of IBP, Monfort, Excell, and National Beef Packing have major packing plants in southwestern Kansas.
Major grain companies have been playing an important role in the development of vertically integrated grain-cattle-beef business. A subsidiary of Cargill, Inc. operates seven large feedlots, and Excell also belongs to this grain company. Continental Grain, another major grain company, operates the largest feedlot in the United States. Thus, southwestern Kansas is characterized by the beef industry where feed production, cattle fattening at feedlots, and beef packing are effectively integrated on the abundant ground water resources of Ogallala Aquifer.