HURON, SD – Just a few months following his National Farmers Union keynote address, Montana Sen. Jon Tester provided cattle producers with an update on the work underway in D.C. for fair prices.
“If we want rural America to remain strong and vibrant, it’s critical that the cattle producers that feed us have access to fair markets and are receiving fair prices,” Tester said. “For years, Montana ranchers have told me that it’s becoming harder and harder to make their operations pencil. Generational ranchers are being forced to sell their land or operate at a loss, and a lack of competition in the meatpacking industry is a main reason why. Fair prices are the best sign of a competitive market, and as big packers continue to reel in record profits, producers and consumers alike aren’t getting their fair shake.”
Market transparency and fair prices for cattle producers were a focus of the keynote address given by Tester during the 2022 National Farmers Union Convention held in Denver this March.
“Family farm agriculture has been pinched on both sides for so long,” Tester said in his March 2022 address to members. “We need to reintroduce capitalism into the marketplace so family farm production ag can be vibrant once more.”
To accomplish this, Tester outlined five bills during his address that he was working on collaboratively:
– Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act (S. 4030)
– Meat Packing Special Investigator Act (S. 3870)
– American Beef Labeling Act (S. 2716)
– New Markets for State Inspected Meat Act (S. 107)
– Brazilian Beef Legislation (S. 3230)
After hearing the senator’s convention comments, Reliance, SD rancher David Reis felt guarded optimism. “We have been working for this for so long,” said Reis, “I hope these efforts are not lost with all the other stuff going on right now.”
On June 13, Tester said thanks to bipartisan support, momentum is still going strong in cattle producers’ favor.
His comments focused specifically on two pieces of legislation which he is optimistic will receive the necessary Ag Committee votes to reach the Senate floor — the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act (S. 4030) and Meat Packing Special Investigator Act (S. 3870).
Tester’s optimism is based on the bipartisan support each act received as well as the positive response he received following an April 26 Senate Agriculture Committee hearing where he testified on their behalf, saying, “Ag production has gotten far more consolidated than when I took over the farm 44 years ago in 1978,” Tester said. “And it’s not one party’s responsibility, the fact is that both parties have watched this happen and we’ve done nothing. Today, we have an opportunity to do something. Why? Because we’ve seen a mass exodus off the land. Rural America is drying up. On the other side of the equation, we see consumers are being treated unfairly in the marketplace because there’s no competition. Today we can address both of those issues with these bills.”
If signed into law, each bill would address a challenge impacting cattle producers’ opportunity to receive fair prices for the cattle they raise.
“Nearly 85 percent of the meatpacking industry is controlled by four corporate meatpackers. Right now, the executives of these companies have the power to go out onto the golf course and decide what they’re going to charge our ranchers for their premium beef. These two bills will help change that,” Tester said. “We don’t want to take down the big packers, but we do want to increase transparency and competition in the market by enforcing existing antitrust laws, so we can get to the core of the problem. Once passed, we’ll finally be moving in the right direction to ensure that our cattle producers are able to remain viable and folks won’t have to sell the farm to stay afloat.”
Tester’s Meat Packing Special Investigator Act, co-led by Republican Sens. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rounds (R-S.D.), would create the “Office of the Special Investigator for Competition Matters” within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
This office will have a team of investigators, with subpoena power, dedicated to preventing and addressing anticompetitive practices in the meat and poultry industries and enforcing our nation’s antitrust laws.
Tester’s Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act, co-led by Sens. Fischer (R-Neb.), Grassley (R-Iowa) and Wyden (D-Ore.), sets regional mandatory minimum thresholds for negotiated purchases of fed cattle by large meatpackers.
It also includes a number of transparency measures, including the creation of a cattle contract library, requirements that packers report carcass weight more quickly and that they report the number of cattle scheduled for slaughter each day for the next 14 days.
What can cattle producers do to help?
The fight for transparency, fair prices and enforced oversight of the Big Four packers has gone on for decades. And it has remained a truly grassroots, bipartisan effort, explained Doug Sombke, South Dakota Farmers Union President and fourth generation crop and cattle producer.
“We were fighting for fair prices when I was a young farmer starting out in the late 1970s. And Farmers Union continues to advocate for policy to support fair prices for cattle producers today,” Sombke said.
With the COVID-19 pandemic supply chain disruptions shining a light on market manipulation, Sombke and Tester encourage cattle producers and their supporters to continue their grassroots advocacy.
“Let our congressional leaders know that you appreciate their support of these bills,” Sombke said.
