Livestock Transparency
I’m Bob Larson. The House Agriculture Committee is advancing several bills, including one to boost cattle contract transparency.
The bipartisan, industry-backed Cattle Contract Library Act is expected to boost contract transparency and producer leverage in negotiating with packers, a top concern in the highly concentrated industry.
Georgia Republican Representative Rick Allen at a recent House Ag hearing …
ALLEN … “The Agricultural Marketing Service maintains a library of the various contracts and pricing arrangements in the swine industry. However, no such contract library exists for cattle producers. I have heard from several cattlemen about the need to provide more transparency in the market, particularly for formula transactions.”
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack was asked about the issue …
VILSACK … “The president’s executive order has asked us to put together a report due in December, on this very issue. I don’t want to anticipate and expect what the report’s ultimately going to conclude, but I think, to the extent that we can create more information for producers, about what contracts ought to be, what contract are, the more transparency, I think the stronger the market is.”
The House Ag Committee is also considering bills for rural development, scholarship funding at 1890s institutions, chronic wasting disease research, forest restoration and wildfire assessments, and carbon sequestration grants.
