10. The number of beefpackers (those who purchase live-cattle and process them into consumable beef) has decreased dramatically over the last 30 years. The main reason is that beefpackers have learned they can process beef at less cost if they build very large processing facilities. As a result, fewer beefpackers are needed to process beef. Now there are only a few buyers of live-cattle but still thousands of sellers of live-cattle. Although this does bestow beefpackers with market power and they can use this power to reduce the price they pay for live cattle (resembling a monopsony), explain why live-cattle prices could actually rise due to these structural changes.