R-CALF: Farm Bill Update – No Packer Ban, But Wins & Progress In Other Areas
Washington, D.C. – On Thursday, the Farm Bill Conference Committee voted down a ban on packer ownership of livestock, but there were several other areas in which language remained intact to the benefit of independent U.S. cattle producers.
“While we did suffer that particular defeat on the packer ban, which was a huge disappointment, we must thank our champions on this issue who argued strenuously that the packer ban is needed to maintain the independence of U.S producers who market their livestock into an extremely concentrated market,” said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard. “And while we are deeply disappointed that the Conference Committee chose to defend the anticompetitive practices of a handful of multinational meatpackers at the expense of hundreds of thousands of independent cattle producers, we maintain our resolve to continue the fight to reclaim our competitive markets.
“It’s also very important to recognize that we had a number of victories and made significant progress in some areas with this Farm Bill, and chief among them is that we have a Livestock Title in the Farm Bill for the first time ever,” he continued. “Country-of-origin labeling (COOL) has been significantly strengthened and is scheduled to be implemented this fall.
“If you recall, R-CALF had hoped the Conference Committee would establish an office of special counsel within GIPSA (Grain Inspection Packers Stockyards Administration), and although we didn’t get that, we did move forward in terms of ensuring that the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA) is adequately enforced through a new mechanism that will allow Congress more oversight over the enforcement of the PSA,” said Bullard.
“We also won interstate shipment of state-inspected beef so that state-inspected plants can soon begin to engage in interstate commerce across state lines, and we also succeeded in including language that requires USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) to finally define what is meant by the prohibition against ‘unreasonable preferences or advantage’ in cattle procurement transactions,” he added. “We also won the right for contract growers to voluntarily participate in arbitration as a means of redressing disputes that arise during the production contract.
“Again, although we lost the packer ban, we won some very important reforms for our industry, and R-CALF demonstrated to Congress and the meatpacker lobby that we are an effective force that will continue to grow in strength to reclaim our competitive markets,” Bullard concluded.