Last week, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and other livestock organizations threw their support behind legislation that would allow livestock auction market owners to invest in or own small and medium meatpacking operations.
In a letter sent Thursday to the leadership of the agriculture committees in the Senate and House, NPPC, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, American Sheep Industry Association, Livestock Marketing Association, and the United States Cattlemen’s Association asked that the “Amplifying Processing of Livestock in the United States,” or A-PLUS Act (H.R. 7438), be considered and advanced.
The groups note that supply chain challenges and a lack of packing capacity have negatively affected consumers and producers. To remedy that, livestock auction owners have expressed interest in getting involved in the meatpacking business. But the Packers and Stockyards Act prohibits owning both an auction company and a packing firm or a meat marketing business based on decades-old concerns about the transparency of livestock transactions.
The A-PLUS Act would allow investments in processors harvesting less than 2,000 head per day or 700,000 head a year, reflecting the size of processing in the beef industry.
NPPC notes they will support an amendment to the bill with a proportionate number based on current daily and annual pork processing.