Resurrection of the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act
With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I am Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.
The Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act…resurrected.
Senator Chuck Grassley and a bipartisan group of Senators last week introduced the bipartisan piece of legislation. Joining Grassley was fellow Republican Deb Fischer of Nebraska, and Democrats Ron Wyden of Oregon and Jon Tester of Montana.
According to the National Farmers Union (NFU), the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2023 makes important reforms, including:
• Establishing mandatory minimum purchase volumes for packers through “approved pricing mechanisms” based on five to seven geographic regions, to be determined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
• Bringing more transparency by requiring reporting of cattle weights and slaughter deliveries two weeks in advance.
• Clarifying and implementing a cattle contract library.
• Increasing penalties for violations by packers.
• Requiring livestock mandatory reporting data be made consistently available.
Now I mentioned the bipartisan group of Senators introducing the piece of legislation, but they were joined by 18 co-sponsors, bringing the total of the names penned to this bill to 18.
The National Farmers Union says it’s glad to once again support this piece of legislation as we head into the 118th Congress.
