House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Ranking member Michael Conaway of Texas are asking Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to work with University Policy Research Centers to analyze issues related to the cattle industry. R-CALF Regional Director and Iowa Cattleman Eric Nelson says while he welcomes input from lawmakers and USDA is concerned how timely any study results may be or any fixes found for the broken cattle markets.
He says quick action is needed to fix the cattle markets and one of those could be Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley’s legislation to require packers to purchase 50 percent of their cattle on the spot market in a 14 day period.
Nelson says independent cattle producers are facing a serious crisis created by meatpacking concentration and a broken market system.
Peterson and Conaway are urging the Ag Secretary to evaluate the cattle market structure, price discovery, price reporting, purchasing mandates and barriers to entry in the packing sector.
