R-CALF members want the Senate Ag Committee to pass the Grassley Tester legislation that calls for meat packers to purchase 50 percent of their cattle from the spot market. R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard says a cross regional approach to fix the cattle markets won’t make them more competitive and the Grassley Tester bill prevents that.

He says packers are already subverting the market in Iowa for example where they’re shipping cattle into the state from out of state and purchasing them thus denying Iowa producers a competitive market.

Bullard says the Grassley Tester measure makes the cattle markets more competitive immediately in contrast to other legislation proposed such as Nebraska Senator Deb Fischer’s bill.

Bullard says the negotiated cash volume should not vary region by region and Senator Fischer’s bill supports the regional approach.