New Cattle Price Transparency Act Would Benefit Independent Family Farms

A Bipartisan group of U.S. Senators recently introduced the “Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2023.” The legislation would restore transparency and accountability in the cattle market by establishing regional cash minimums and equipping producers with more market information, including permanently authorizing a cattle contract library.

“The big four meat packing corporations put profits over people and control more than 80 percent of the market which allows them to take advantage of hard-working, independent family farms in Ohio,” said Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown.

The Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2023 would:

~ Require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish five to seven regions that encompass the continental U.S. and then establish minimum levels of fed cattle purchases made through approved pricing mechanisms which are purchases made through negotiated cash; negotiated grid; at a stockyard; and through trading systems where multiple buyers and sellers regularly can make and accept bids. These pricing mechanisms are transparent and will ensure robust price discovery

~ Establish a maximum penalty of $90,000 for mandatory minimum violations for covered packers. Covered packers are those who slaughtered five percent or more of the number of fed cattle nationally during the previous five years

~ Create a publicly available library of marketing contracts, mandating box beef reporting to ensure transparency, expediting the reporting of cattle carcass weights, and requiring packers to report the number of cattle scheduled to be delivered for slaughter each day for the next 14 days. The contract library would be permanently authorized and specify key details that it must include like the duration of the contract and provisions in the contract that may impact price such as schedules, premiums and discounts, and transportation arrangements.

U.S. Senators introducing the legislation include: Deb Fischer (R-NE), Ron

Wyden (D-OR), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Jon Tester (D-MT), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Mike Braun (R-IN), Tina Smith (D-MN), Cindy Hyde-smith (R-MS), Steve Daines (R-MT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Mike Rounds (R-SD), John Kennedy (R-LA), and Pete Ricketts (R-NE).