Cattle Market Transparency Act aims to help producers

NE - A new act aims to support cattle producers.

Republican Senator Deb Fisher of Nebraska, with Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, introduced the Cattle Market Transparency Act of 2021 on March 3.

“I am reintroducing this bill with bipartisan support. It will help facilitate price discovery and provide cattle producers with the information they need to make informed marketing decisions. I am committed to working across the aisle to advance the bill forward this Congress,” said Senator Fischer in a press release.

The act would, per the press release:

1. Establish regional mandatory minimum thresholds of negotiated cash and negotiated grid trades to enable price discovery in cattle marketing regions. It will require the Secretary of Agriculture in consultation with the Chief Economist, to establish regionally sufficient levels of negotiated cash and negotiated grid trade, seek public comment on those levels, then implement.
2. Require USDA to create and maintain a publicly available library of marketing contracts between packers and producers in a manner that ensures confidentiality.
3. Prohibit the USDA from using confidentiality as a justification for not reporting and makes clear that USDA must report all LMR information, and they must do so in a manner that ensures confidentiality. 
4. Mandate that a packer report to USDA the number of cattle scheduled to be delivered for slaughter each day for the next 14 days and require USDA to report this information on a daily basis. 

This would increase accountability -- by establishing cash minimums and giving producers more information.

The American Farm Bureau's Director of Congressional Relations Scott Bennett said this is to repair the damage of an extremely volatile last year.

"And this act would certainly hope to subside that volatility," he said. "It's a bipartisan effort. We commend Sen. Deb Fisher for being the lead on this very important bill on a very important issue."

The legislation faces little challenges, other than timing to get it passed, according to Bennett.