AGRICULTURE »» RANCHING »» MEAT PACKING »» Oct 16, 2023

The purposes of the 1921 Packers and Stockyards Act is to ensure fair competition and fair trade practices, to safeguard farmers and ranchers, and to protect consumers and members of the livestock, meat, and poultry industries from unfair, deceptive, unjustly discriminatory and monopolistic practices. The Act was enacted in response to concerns that the largest meat processors of that era had engaged in anticompetitive practices that had a deleterious effect on producers and consumers. However, ranch advocates claim today’s market place is even more consolidated than it was in 1921. They say Rural America is drying up because it can’t get fair prices at the farm gate, and that Capitalism isn’t working in this particular instance because of industry concentration and consolidation. Consumers usually pay higher prices without industry competition and prices are often set without regard to what people can afford. They believe more sunlight and guardrails are needed to end the meat packer de facto monopoly, or our food security will be at risk. Pending Legislation: S.228 - Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2023 Sponsor: Sen. Deb Fischer (NE) Status: Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Chair: Sen. Debbie Stabenow (MI) I oppose reforming current meat packing industry policy, and wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Leader Charles Schumer (NY). I support requiring the Department of Agriculture to take various actions to address transparency in contract terms and pricing in the cattle industry by: 1.) Maintaining a publicly available library or catalog of contracts entered into between meat packers and livestock producers for the purchase of cattle, including any schedules of premiums or discounts associated with the contracts and other specific details. USDA must make this information available to producers and other interested parties in a monthly report. 2.) Establishing five to seven regions encompassing the entire continental United States that reasonably reflect similar fed cattle purchase practices for processing plants and establish mandatory minimums for each region (i.e., the minimum percentage of cattle purchases that are required to be made through approved pricing mechanisms from producers that are not packers). 3.) Defining approved pricing mechanisms as purchases of fed cattle made through a negotiated purchase, through a negotiated grid purchase, at a stockyard, or through trading systems or platforms where multiple buyers and sellers can regularly make and accept bids and offers. 4.) Establishing a maximum penalty for mandatory minimum violations by covered packers. Under the bill, a covered packer is a packer that has slaughtered an average of 5% or more of the number of fed cattle slaughtered nationally during the immediately preceding five calendar years. And wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Sen. Debbie Stabenow (MI) and/or to an advocate group currently working with this issue.

Winning Option »» I support requiring the Department of Agriculture to take various actions to address transparency in contract terms and pricing in the cattle industry by: 1.) Maintaining a publicly available library or catalog of contracts entered into between meat packers and livestock producers for the purchase of cattle, including any schedules of premiums or discounts associated with the contracts and other specific details. USDA must make this information available to producers and other interested parties in a monthly report. 2.) Establishing five to seven regions encompassing the entire continental United States that reasonably reflect similar fed cattle purchase practices for processing plants and establish mandatory minimums for each region (i.e., the minimum percentage of cattle purchases that are required to be made through approved pricing mechanisms from producers that are not packers). 3.) Defining approved pricing mechanisms as purchases of fed cattle made through a negotiated purchase, through a negotiated grid purchase, at a stockyard, or through trading systems or platforms where multiple buyers and sellers can regularly make and accept bids and offers. 4.) Establishing a maximum penalty for mandatory minimum violations by covered packers. Under the bill, a covered packer is a packer that has slaughtered an average of 5% or more of the number of fed cattle slaughtered nationally during the immediately preceding five calendar years. And wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Sen. Debbie Stabenow (MI) and/or to an advocate group currently working with this issue.

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