Cattle Producers Want Competition Title in Farm Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Agriculture Committee is preparing its version of the 2007 Farm Bill this month, and R-CALF USA is requesting that a Competition Title be included in this version to provide needed livestock industry reforms.
7 September 2007
2 minute read
“R-CALF strongly supports reforms that would create a level playing field between widely dispersed cattle producers and the highly concentrated meatpacking industry,” said R-CALF USA Vice President/Region II Director Randy Stevenson, who also co-chairs the group’s marketing committee. “The ongoing consolidation and vertical integration of our U.S. meatpacking industry has tilted the balance of market power away from independent producers, resulting in an erosion of market competition.”
“R-CALF also is concerned that recent USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) actions have weakened our protections against the introduction of foreign animal diseases,” said R-CALF USA President/Region VI Director Max Thornsberry, a Missouri veterinarian who also chairs the group’s animal health committee. “We encourage the Senate Ag Committee to adopt reforms to address this critical problem as well.”
Specifically, R-CALF USA is asking that the following reforms be included in the 2007 Farm Bill.
- Require the implementation of mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) no later than Sept. 30, 2008, by incorporating the COOL amendment passed by the U.S. House of Representatives;
- Limit the packers’ unbridled use of price-depressing captive supplies by including the Captive Supply Reform Act (S. 1017) and the limitation on packer ownership of livestock (S. 305) in the 2007 Farm Bill.
- Incorporate the Competition and Fair Agricultural Markets Act of 2007 (S. 622) to update and strengthen the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA) and ensure its enforcement through the establishment of an Office of Special Counsel. This amendment also should clarify that producers need not additionally prove a competitive injury before obtaining protection against unfair practices under the PSA, and packers should not be afforded the defense of a legitimate business justification to avoid PSA sanctions.
- Amend the Animal Health Protection Act (Act) to address the critical weakness identified by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the R-CALF USA v. USDA lawsuit. The court found the Act does not currently impose any restrictions on how USDA must respond, if at all, to the risk that bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) will enter the U.S. from foreign countries.
“As members of the U.S. livestock and meat industry, we also support reforms to address the challenges faced by domestic hog and poultry producers, which include making arbitration voluntary,” Stevenson said. “R-CALF is asking for these reforms to ensure open and competitive markets, as well as the safety of our livestock herds.”
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