>>508632589Yeah they've tried this before, covertly. Three things happened, and still continue to happen:
1) Big time customers (think McDonalds) sue the fuck out of them and win.
2) Their competition (think Sysco) sue the fuck out of them and win.
3) Ranches and feedlots are swayed into new, more lucrative contracts by competitors willing to forgot unit margins via more sales.
This shit autocorrects so fast in the United States market. It's actually impressive. There is also a 4th thing that does occur from time to time and that is when the FTC gets involved. That happened during COVID.