U.S. Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) applauded passage of their bipartisan Meat Packing Special Investigator Act through the Senate Agriculture Committee (June 22, 2022). The senators’ legislation will address anticompetitive practices in the meat and poultry industries that hurt consumers and producers, threaten the nation’s food supply and endanger America’s food security.
“Anticompetitive behavior in the meat packing industry hurts both consumers and producers,” said Rounds. “Unfortunately, packer concentration in the beef industry is more consolidated today than it was when the Packers and Stockyards Act was first signed into law over 100 years ago. It’s long past time to address this problem. I thank my colleagues on the committee for their bipartisan support of our legislation and look forward to working across the aisle to get this bill signed into law.”
The senators’ Meat Packing Special Investigator Act would create the “Office of the Special Investigator for Competition Matters” within the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Packers and Stockyards Division.
The new USDA special investigator will have a team of investigators, with subpoena power, dedicated to preventing and addressing anticompetitive practices in the meat and poultry industries and enforcing our nation’s antitrust laws. They will coordinate and act in consultation with the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to create a new bridge between the USDA and the Department of Homeland Security to protect the continuation of the food supply and increase national security. With a team of dedicated staff, the USDA will now have the ability to investigate the tough issues facing producers and hold bad actors accountable.
Click HERE for full bill text.
Meanwhile, two cattle organizations have differing thoughts on the legislation.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has once again voiced opposition to the Cattle Price Transparency Act of 2022 and the Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act of 2022, which were marked up by the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
“The U.S. cattle industry is home to one of the most complex set of markets in the world. Rather than embrace the freedom of that marketing system, Congress is instituting a one-size-fits-all policy that will hurt cattle producers’ livelihoods. Cattle markets are finally returning to normal after pandemic-fueled uncertainty, but these heavy-handed mandates will stifle innovation and limit marketing opportunities,” said NCBA Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane. “Cattlemen and women deserve the freedom to market their cattle in whatever way they want.”
The Cattle Price Transparency Act of 2022 would subject every cattle producer in the country to a business-altering government mandate. The bill would severely restrict the use of Alternative Marketing Arrangements (AMAs), which provide stability to producers and allow them to invest in creating higher-quality and specialty products that command a premium. The bill also fails to consider the unique ways producers raise cattle in different regions of the country. Although the bill was introduced when cattle markets experienced uncertainty because of the COVID-19 pandemic, market conditions have improved on their own without heavy-handed government intervention. This legislation would jeopardize that recovery.
The Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act of 2022 would create a new special investigator position at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to investigate “competition matters.” Unfortunately, the legislation is duplicative and only creates additional bureaucracy for investigating anticompetitive behavior. “NCBA supports oversight of the market, but creating a duplicative, bureaucratic new special investigator role is the wrong approach. Congress should be focused on the issues that are hurting producer profitability now—rising food, fuel, and feed prices,” said Lane.
On the other hand, the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association supports both pieces of legislation– the Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act of 2022, and the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2022.
USCA is also in favor of an amendment Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa offered to ensure that the assigned “Special Investigator” is a senior level U.S. Department of Agriculture career staff and not a political appointee.
”USCA is proud to stand with Senators Deb Fischer, Chuck Grassley, Jon Tester, and 17 other Senate cosponsors in support of the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act,” said USCA President Dr. Brooke Miller. “This bill is one of the much-needed solutions to an increasingly consolidated meat industry. Studies have shown that, without government intervention, negotiated trade in the U.S. marketplace will fall to zero percent by 2026 in parts of the country. When producers don’t have the ability to negotiate a fair price for their cattle based on current market conditions, it results in a vertically integrated, corporate-controlled beef supply chain. This threatens the livelihoods of producers and the security of our national food system.”
Both pieces of legislation are now eligible for consideration by the full Senate.
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