WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 15, 2010 – The National Pork Producers Council today applauded the House for approving legislation to reauthorize the law requiring meat packers to report to the U.S. Department of Agriculture the prices they pay producers for animals.
The legislation, which previously was approved by the Senate, now goes to the president to be signed into law. It reauthorizes for five years the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act, which was set to expire Sept. 30, and includes new provisions requiring weekly reporting of pork exports – by price and volume – and of wholesale pork cuts.
“We applaud House passage of legislation reauthorizing the mandatory price reporting law,” said NPPC President Sam Carney, a pork producer from Adair, Iowa. “And the addition of export and wholesale cuts reporting will further help producers like me make business and production decisions.
“The Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act is what provides transparency and certainty in the livestock markets and allows competition to thrive,” Carney said. “The new provision for wholesale pork reporting will make pricing data more fully reflect the marketplace today. The pork industry has changed since the reporting act was first adopted in 1999.”
Carney praised House Agriculture Committee members Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn.; Ranking Member Frank Lucas, R-Okla.; David Scott, D-Ga., chairman of the livestock subcommittee; and Randy Neugebauer, ranking member of the livestock subcommittee, for their leadership on the issue. In the Senate, Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., led the fight to reauthorize the reporting act.
NPPC now is urging USDA to move quickly to develop a system for the wholesale pork cuts and pork exports reporting.
Also approved today in the House was the “Veterinarian Services Investment Act,” sponsored by Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., which
would direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a grant program to “develop, implement and sustain” veterinary service to help relieve a shortage of veterinarians, particularly large animal veterinarians. The program would include recruitment efforts and financial aid for veterinary students. The measure was strongly supported by NPPC, which also is backing a companion Senate bill, S. 3621.
ARLINGTON, VA – A decade-long effort to improve the transparency of dairy pricing culminated Wednesday with the final passage of legislation in the House of Representatives establishing the weekly, electronic reporting of dairy prices, according to the National Milk Producers Federation, which has long sought the pricing measure.
The Mandatory Price Reporting Act of 2010 includes mandatory weekly electronic reporting for dairy products. It also reauthorizes for five years other price reporting programs run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including mandatory reporting for wholesale pork cuts. The House action today follows similar final approval in the Senate earlier in the summer, meaning that the bill will become law once President Obama signs it.
NMPF President and CEO, Jerry Kozak, applauded the passage of the legislation, noting that “NMPF believes a key element of improved dairy marketing is accurate, timely price information. After years of half-measures, the Mandatory Price Reporting Act will ensure that the USDA implements to the fullest mandatory dairy price reporting.”
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson said today that “The transparent, timely and accurate market information provided by mandatory price reporting programs is a vital and necessary tool for agriculture producers. I appreciate the support of the farmers, processors and packers to help us reauthorize mandatory price reporting requirements and improve the availability of market data.”
NMPF helped include mandatory price reporting language in the 2008 Farm Bill. But that measure was contingent on available funding at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the USDA has never had adequate funding to implement dairy price reporting.
The price reporting bill contains the follow specifications:
Amending section 273 of the Agriculture Marketing Act of 1946 to require the Secretary to establish an electronic reporting system for dairy.
Directing the Secretary to publish the information reported through the electronic reporting system by 3:00 PM ET, each Wednesday.
Requiring the Secretary to implement the electronic reporting system for dairy not later than one year following enactment of this Act.