Cattle Market Transparency Act introduced to Senate


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Cattle Market Transparency Act introduced to Senate

Nebraska’s Deb Fischer and Oregon’s Ron Wyden introduced the Cattle Market Transparency Act of 2021 to the Senate Wednesday.

The bill would establish a formula contract library at USDA for cattle producers to compare formula arrangements available, change the committed cattle delivery window to packers from seven to 14 days and would provide more access to price information limiting packer confidentiality.

Tanner Beymer with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association tells Brownfield the legislation is a step in the right direction.

“We need to make sure that there is adequate transparency in the marketplace so that our producers have all the information available to them to make good, informed marketing decisions,” he said.

Beymer says the bill will add transparency into the cattle market which has been a priority for NCBA since the investigation into the Holcomb, Kansas processing fire and issues raised by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This whole transparency conversation takes a lot of different forms,” he said. “It can be in that investigation; it can also be through some of these provision in Senator Fischer’s legislation, but it also just is a matter of producers taking advantage of the information available to them now.”

The bill was adjusted from last year’s version to include USDA’s head economist in the decision to set mandatory cash business in the market. Beymer said he expects a companion bill in the House by Missouri’s Vicky Hartzler in the coming weeks.

Tanner Beymer Interview

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