For the livestock and meat industry, the 1990s were a period of marked vertical integrarion. By the end of the decade, the use of production contracts, marketing agreements, and other ownership linkages between beef and pork producers and meat packers had provoked such controversy that Congress began to consider legislation to abolish many types of market linkages. We analyze the transition from cash markets in the beef and pork industries, the underlying forces driving the changes, and related issues