Q: What is the Transparency for Independent Livestock Producers Act?
A: In an effort to give independent livestock producers a fair shake in the marketplace, I'm beefing up my crusade in Washington to keep genuine competition alive and kicking. With packer ownership and control of livestock making it harder and harder for independent producers to gain access and get a fair price, I'm working through legislative means to guarantee producers a spot in the marketplace by improving the Mandatory Price Reporting System. My bill would require one-fourth of a packer's daily kill to come from purchases made on the daily, open market or spot market. By requiring a full 25 percent spot market purchase at the slaughterhouse gate, my bill would help prevent the packers from emptying their own feed lots on the market when prices are high and buying up cheap livestock from independent producers when prices are low. It would improve the accuracy and transparency of reported daily prices by giving producers consistent, reliable numbers about what actually is being purchased from the open market on any given day. Plus, it would assure independent producers a more competitive position by requiring the packers to fill the 25 percent spot market with livestock they did not previously control. And by improving the accuracy of the price reporting system, my bill also would make it harder for packers to manipulate marketing contract agreements. Armed with better, more reliable numbers, the independent producer would sit on more equal footing with the packers when they enter into contracts with packers.
Q: Why are you so determined to limit packer control of livestock?
A: At any given town meeting I hold in a farming community in Iowa, packer control of livestock comes up without fail. Too many independent family farmers are feeling squeezed out of the system. A handful of meatpackers are calling the shots. In an effort to capture a greater share of the consumer's food dollar, the packers are bent on swallowing up the dwindling number of independent livestock operators still in business. Farming is an inherently risky business, but producers deserve to play on a level playing field that guarantees access, information and competition. Anti-competitive practices in the meat industry not only threaten the livelihoods of independent livestock producers, it also drives up the prices that consumers pay at their grocer's meat case. When there's only one game in town, it's not hard to figure out who the winners and losers are before the first pitch ever crosses the plate. That's why I won't give up my campaign to protect competition in production agriculture. As the family farmer's advocate in Washington, I will continue to blow the whistle on foul play and anti-competitive business practices that choke the agricultural economy. We've seen how corporate greed and corruption has roiled the stock markets on Wall Street. Through my packer ownership ban and beefed up market-reporting bills, I intend to make sure the meatpackers don't spoil the livestock markets on Main Street.