"Accurate and reliable information is critical for independent producers struggling to compete with a consolidating meatpacking industry," Grassley said. "The price reporting program will give family farmers the information they need to make sound marketing decisions. Transparency will help prevent insider deals that undercut fair competition."
Grassley and Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota sponsored the legislation that established the mandatory price reporting program. The Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting Act, which passed last year, requires the federal Agriculture Marketing Service to collect the market data and make it immediately available via the Internet. In June of this year, Grassley secured an additional $1.35 million in the agriculture appropriations bill to help pay for the program.
The rule, which will be published Dec. 1 and implemented 60 days later, will provide information on cattle, boxed beef, slaughter hogs, sheep, lamb meat and imported lamb meat transactions. Packers who annually slaughter an average of 125,000 cattle or 100,000 swine, or slaughter or process and average of 75,000 lambs are required to report transaction details to USDA. Importers who annually import an average of 5,000 metric tons of lamb meat products also are required to report.
"Of course the program won't solve all the problems producers face right now, but it is an important and positive step in the right direction for the independent producer," Grassley said.