WASHINGTON, DC – A cattle market that is out of balance is leading to more calls for transparency, especially in Congress.
Already there is a handful of legislation that has been introduced calling on market participants, especially packers, to be more forthcoming on all the marketing opportunities that use. There are bills that mandate the percentage of cattle that must be purchase within a region and ratios of contracts to open bids.
Now Missouri farmer and U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler is introducing a bill, Optimizing the Cattle Market Act of 2021, which would direct USDA to create a cattle formula contracts library and increase the window for “cattle committed” from 7 to 14 days. In addition, the bill calls for expedited reauthorization of USDA’s Livestock Mandatory Reporting program and would require the Department to establish mandated minimums for regional negotiated cash and negotiated grid live cattle trade.
(SOURCE: All Ag News)