Ag Policy Blog

The Senate Agriculture Committee chairwoman and ranking member announced the committee will hold a business meeting on June 22 to consider S.3870, the Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act of 2022, and S.4030, the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2022.

S. 4030, the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2022 would require USDA to establish minimum levels of negotiated cash trade for fed cattle by dividing up regions of the country. The cash-trade floor would depend on the number of packers in a region, availability of fed cattle, and the number of contractual arrangements -- alternative marketing agreements (AMAs) -- in each region as well. The mandate for cash trade would fall to packers that on average handle at least 5% of daily fed cattle slaughter.

The bill also would create a library at USDA of AMA contracts that would allow cattle producers to see the premiums others are receiving.

Backers of the bill, which includes senators on both sides of the aisle, point to market control exerted by four major packers that control 85% of fed-cattle slaughter nationally.

The Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act also is part of a bill in the House of Representatives as well. The bill would create a new USDA office with subpoena power to investigate and prosecute violations of the Packers and Stockyards Act.

The business meeting will take place at 8:30 a.m. Central. The meeting will be livestreamed on the Senate Agriculture Committee website.

House Ag to Hold Hearings on Dairy and Digital Assets

The House Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing on dairy provisions in the farm bill at 9 a.m. on June 22.

The House Agriculture Committee Commodity Exchanges, Energy and Credit Subcommittee will hold a hearing titled The Future of Digital Asset Regulation at 10:30 a.m. next Thursday.

Each hybrid hearing will be livestreamed.

Jerry Hagstrom can be reached at jhagstrom@nationaljournal.com

Follow him on Twitter @hagstromreport

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