There has been a lot of attention paid to the cattle markets and the prices that packers are paying to producers. There are a lot of questions as to how fair the price structure is and claims of monopolies in the packer sector. The first step in finding out what is happening is to keep track of the prices paid to cattle feeders. Last week, a bill called the Cattle Contract Library Act was introduced in Congress to accomplish that task.
The bill, which was introduced by South Dakota Republican Dusty Johnson and Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar, instructs the United States Secretary of Agriculture to establish and maintain a repository of all contracts offered by meatpackers. Tanner Beymer is the Director of Government Affairs and Marketing Regulatory Policy for the National Cattlemen?s Beef Association (NCBA).
When it comes to the different marketing categories, one of them is lacking a lot of information. This bill would help correct that discrepancy.
This Act is in direct response to calls from throughout the country that cattle producers are not being treated fairly by the meatpackers, and that four of them; Cargill, JBL, Tyson, and National Beef have got a stranglehold on 85% of the market share, thus creating a monopoly of which they all have a hand. The goal is to help cattle producers get back on their feet.
Another area of contention is over Mandatory Livestock Reporting. It was supposed to be reauthorized by Congress before September 30th of 2020 and has constantly been kicked down the road. It is set to expire on December 3rd unless Congress acts or kicks the can again.
This new legislation has the backing of much of the cattle industry, including the NCBA.
