CHARLOTTE, N.C. -ÊAmerican cattle producers are not getting enough price information and the secretary of agriculture intends to do something about it.
“I worry about individual ranchers’ ability to get a fair price in a less competitive marketplace,” said Dan Glickman at a forum at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association convention in North Carolina.
The industry has been complaining about secrecy within the processing industry as more animals are sold by contract without packers being obligated to report the selling price.
A bill went to Congress last year calling for mandatory price reporting but it was voted down.
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Glickman promised to announce within a few weeks specific steps to obtain additional price information and gather evidence of price fixing and unfair price manipulation.
“We will push the envelope as far as we can within USDA until Congress gives us the additional information we need,” he said. “With modern technology there is no reason why information can’t be instantaneous.”
The packing industry is concentrated into four large firms controlling 80 percent of the United States kill.
Anti-trust legislation has existed since the late 1890s because meat packing companies had such a major influence in the packing, transportation and retail sectors.
While concentration is not illegal, more producers are claiming price transparency has eroded because large companies are offering more private contracts, formula pricing and grid pricing.
During the NCBA convention, members passed several resolutions outlining their desires for price discovery.
- They want any U.S. packer controlling or slaughtering more than five percent of the daily federally inspected slaughter to report price and terms of purchase of all cattle within 24 hours of purchase.
- Immediate mandatory volume and price reporting should be released for all boxed beef, beef imports and beef exports.
- All cattle sold on formula and grid pricing structures should have the base price negotiated by the buyer and seller before the cattle are committed.
The membership also supports a USDA proposal that would make it a violation of the Packers and Stockyards Act for buyers to request non-reporting as a condition of fed cattle sales.
