Senate Ag Scheduled Hearing on Cattle Markets

On Thursday, Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow announced a hearing titled “Examining Markets, Transparency, and Prices from Cattle Producer to Consumer.” The Michigan Democrat, along with the committee’s ranking Republican John Boozman of Arkansas, scheduled the hearing for Wednesday afternoon.

Cattle market transparency is a priority for cattle producers as disruptions in the market, along with pandemic-related issues, developed. Legislation, such as the Cattle Market Transparency Act, seeks to correct the disruptions and improve trade for cattle producers. Introduced in March, Farm Bureau Congressional Relations Director Scott Bennett said at the time the legislation would ease frustration in the market by “creating a contract library for producers to compare the terms of their contracts versus others in the industry."

In May, a diverse group of farm and cattle organizations came together to focus on cattle market transparency concerns. The issue started growing in 2019 when a fire burned a Tyson plant in Holcomb, KS.

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