The American Farm Bureau Federation has reiterated its support for S. 3229, the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act, with a caveat.  They want Senators to drop the biggest element in the bill, which is the establishment of mandatory minimum negotiated cash sales for fed cattle.  South Dakota Farm Bureau President Scott VanderWal says this follows a change in policy at their annual meeting.

However, Senator’s Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Deb Fischer of Nebraska who introduced the bill have made it clear they don’t want to rework the legislation.   So VanderWal says they have their work cut out for them to get that the mandatory language changed.

VanderWal says it is tough to get a consensus within the cattle industry.  Even within farm bureau there are regional divisions about mandates with states like Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, with the highest percentage of formula contracts, winning the debate.

So far, the Senate Agriculture Committee has not set any hearings or business meetings to discuss advancing the bill.