Bipartisan Legislation Introduced to Return Fairness to the Cattle Marketplace

Iowa Representatives Cindy Axne and Randy Feenstra, members of the House Agriculture Committee, introduced bipartisan legislation to address the issue of fairness in the cattle marketplace dominated by four major meat packers. The Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act aims to provide meaningful reform to the cattle industry, ensuring that producers in Iowa and across the country can continue their operations for generations to come. The bill was introduced with bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.

Key Takeaways:

• The Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act would establish regional mandatory minimum thresholds of negotiated cash and negotiated grid trades to enable price discovery in cattle marketing regions.
• The Secretary of Agriculture would seek public comment on these levels, set the minimums, and implement them, ensuring that no regional minimum level can be more than three times that of the lowest regional minimum.
• The bill requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to create and maintain a publicly available library of marketing contracts between packers and producers, ensuring confidentiality.
• The USDA would also be required to report all Livestock Mandatory Reporting information in a manner that ensures confidentiality.
• The legislation demands more timely reporting of cattle carcass weights and requires packers to report the number of cattle scheduled to be delivered for slaughter each day for the next 14 days.

Statistics:

• The four major meat packers control 85% of the market, according to Representative Cindy Axne.
• Independent cattle producers have seen prices decrease or remain stagnant for too long, with the cost of beef continuing to rise.
• The bill has been endorsed by the American Farm Bureau, U.S. Cattlemen's Association, National Farmers Union, and National Grange.

Sources:

• United States House of Representatives
• Congresswoman Cindy Axne (IA-03)