LUBBOCK, Texas (RFD-TV) — Producers warn that today’s Mandatory Price Reporting system no longer provides the transparent cash-market signals Congress intended, creating challenges for price discovery in a cattle sector increasingly shaped by formula and contract sales. The law was designed to provide timely, uniform information across regions, but outdated confidentiality rules now impede reporting in several major feeding states.
The core problem stems from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) thresholds that prevent the publication of data when too few packers operate in a region. As a result, Texas and Colorado — both critical cattle-feeding hubs — often have no publicly reported cash prices. The Ag Center argues that USDA has made only incremental updates over 25 years despite major changes in packer procurement practices.
Operationally, thin cash trade magnifies the need for accurate reporting because base-price formulas typically reference cash values. Producers say today’s gaps hinder negotiations, distort formula settlements, and complicate hedging strategies.
Regionally, the reporting void is most acute in the Southern Plains, though similar issues are evident in parts of the Midwest and Northwest, where packing concentration limits the number of reportable transactions.
Analysts believe modern data systems and AI could rapidly overhaul reporting. Proposals include standardized FOB live-equivalent pricing, clearer transaction categories, updated regional definitions, and timed disclosure of grid and formula adjustments.
“Where The Food Comes From” visits M&B Products, a milk bottling plant in Temple Terrace, FL (a suburb of Tampa) with its farm in Lecanto, operated by the McClellan family. Get ready for a lesson in everything from milk bottling, to dairy nutrition, and bovine reproduction!
January 25, 2024 03:00 PM
Would you believe it’s possible to have a dairy barn where all you smell is clean fresh country air? Leon McLellan of M&B Products in Temple Terrace, FL shows us how!
January 24, 2024 03:00 PM
If chocolate milke doesn’t come from brown cows (and strawberry milk certainly doesn’t come from pink ones), then where does it come from? Get the scoop!
January 24, 2024 10:00 AM
At Florida dairy operation M&B Products, we learn about bottling milk, lactose intolerance, and so much more!
January 23, 2024 03:57 PM
Two more key developments in ag law and taxation from 2023, a crackdown on biodiesel fraud and developments in self-employment taxation (#7 and #6), are the topic of today’s Firm to Farm blog post, the second in a series by RFD-TV agri-legal expert Roger McEowen.
January 18, 2024 12:44 PM
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The start of the review of the most important ag law and tax developments of 2023—that is the topic of today’s Firm to Farm blog post by RFD-TV agri-legal expert Roger A. McEowen
January 04, 2024 12:20 PM
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As we start the new year, let’s take a look at some of the legislative items from 2023 affecting agriculture that will continue to play out in the political area for months to come.
January 02, 2024 12:00 PM
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Recent developments in ag law and tax — that is the topic of today’s Firm to Farm blog post by RFD-TV-Agri-Legal Expert Roger McEowen.
December 19, 2023 02:45 PM
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December 14, 2023 05:22 PM
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