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USDA recently released its fifth and final proposed rule to beef up competition in the highly consolidated meatpacking industry – seeking advice on price discovery and competition in markets for fed cattle. Rusty Halvorson has the story.
Joe Maxwell, the co-founder of Farm Action, says one of the real problems facing cattle producers is a lack of transparency.
“In cattle production, what we see is that as little as 12 percent or so of cattle are negotiated cash price, and that’s what’s reported. So when I’m hearing that report, I’m not hearing the full story. Over 80 percent can be hidden in these alternative marketing agreements. And so, as a smaller producer, we’ve got our hands tied behind our backs because we can’t know what’s going on because it’s not reported today.”
Maxwell says USDA is trying to figure out what’s really happening in the markets.
“In some regions, less than 12 percent of the cattle are sold on a cash-negotiated basis. That’s all the report we’re getting. The rest of that. 80-some percent is hidden from us, and you can’t operate a business without transparency in the market, especially if you’re a farmer.”
Maxwell says another benefit to the new proposed rule is protection from packer retaliation under the Packers and Stockyards Act.
“That’s what the Packers and Stockyards Act is. It’s a farmer protection act. Matter of fact, when it was enacted, it was called the Farmers Bill of Rights, which provides us protections against the monopoly actions, abusive actions and practices of the largest meat packers in the United States.”
The comment period ends on December 10th. Comments can be submitted through the Federal e-rulemaking portal at https://www.regulations.gov.