Sen. Pete Ricketts stood at the Sustainable Beef plant in North Platte on October 9 and called it "Exhibit A" for competition in meatpacking. He did not say who owns it, or who buys the beef. Founder Rusty Kemp told that crowd the company is "owned by the ranchers who raise the cattle." In a February column the Ricketts campaign reposted, he said the plant is owned "primarily by the very same ranchers who raise the cattle." The best-known exception is Walmart. When the retailer bought in during 2022 it took a minority stake and a board seat and would get "the majority of beef produced at the facility." Challenger Dan Osborn told the North Platte Telegraph that "Walmart is a 15% investor," a figure that appears in no Walmart or Sustainable Beef statement. Nebraska votes November 3, the same day USDA owes the White House three reports on packer enforcement and on the rules that keep custom-exempt meat close to home. A plant owned by eight feeder families and a retailer buys what a feeder sells. It does not bid against a packer for a cow-calf outfit's calves, and it does not kill what a direct-sale rancher sells off his own gate. Full exposé beefmaps.com/news/sustainabl…