WASHINGTON, DC – The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFAB) is calling on lawmakers to require increased transparency in America’s cattle markets. AFBF supports the Cattle Market Transparency Act of 2021, sponsored by Sens. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). The bill focuses on ensuring robust regionally negotiated cash trade and providing producers with more pricing information.
Senator Fischer first introduced the Cattle Market Transparency Act in 2020. Today, she and Senator Wyden are reintroducing this legislation, which will:
- Establish regional mandatory minimum thresholds of negotiated cash and negotiated grid trades to enable price discovery in cattle marketing regions. It will require the Secretary of Agriculture in consultation with the Chief Economist, to establish regionally sufficient levels of negotiated cash and negotiated grid trade, seek public comment on those levels, then implement.
- Require USDA to create and maintain a publicly available library of marketing contracts between packers and producers in a manner that ensures confidentiality.
- Mandate that a packer report to USDA the number of cattle scheduled to be delivered for slaughter each day for the next 14 days and require USDA to report this information on a daily basis.
- Prohibit the USDA from using confidentiality as a justification for not reporting and makes clear that USDA must report all LMR information, and they must do so in a manner that ensures confidentiality.
The Cattle Market Transparency Act aligns with the goals set forth by the AFBF Cattle Market Working Group in 2020, as well as new cattle marketing policy passed at Farm Bureau’s Virtual Annual Convention earlier this year. The Cattle Market Working Group, comprised of 10 state Farm Bureau presidents, spent more than two months investigating factors that led to market disruptions following the Holcomb packing plant fire in August 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 that has continued into 2021.
But the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) opposes the legislation. “Cattle producers continue to face serious obstacles when it comes to increasing profitability and gaining leverage in the marketplace,” said NCBA Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane. “Leveling the playing field and putting more of the beef dollar in producer pockets remains the top priority of this association.”
He added, “NCBA shares Senator Fisher’s objectives, as do its affiliates and indeed the entire industry. The best way to achieve those objectives, however, continues to be hotly debated by the very cattle producers this legislation would directly impact. We have worked and will continue to work alongside our affiliates, Congress, and USDA toward regionally robust negotiated trade, the establishment of a cattle contract library, and commonsense in USDA’s rules of confidentiality by taking direction from our membership through the grassroots policy process.”
AFBF President Zippy Duvall said, “America’s ranchers don’t control the prices they are paid for their products and those raising livestock have legitimate questions about pricing. When the pandemic hit, meat prices at grocery stores went up while the prices paid to farmers fell through the floor.”
He continued, “This legislation will ensure farmers and ranchers have fair access to markets and are fully informed on pricing so they can continue to put food on the table in homes across the country,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall. “We appreciate Senator Fischer and Senator Wyden for introducing the Cattle Market Transparency Act of 2021 and look forward to working with members of the House on a companion bill introduction.”
Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) is introducing companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.
