WASHINGTON, D.C. (RFD News) — While the Farm Bill remains stalled, senators did advance one bipartisan measure during Thursday’s Senate Agriculture Committee markup.
A proposal to restore mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef passed 17-6, making it the only bipartisan amendment adopted during the markup.
Majority Leader John Thune said the amendment would give consumers more information at the meat case while allowing producers to distinguish U.S. beef from imported products.
“We all know this, but everything in this country gets labeled. The tie I’m wearing, the clothes we’re all wearing, my belt. Everything that we buy is labeled except for the things that we put in the center of our plate — beef. Now, having said that, we do label poultry. We label lamb, and we label fish. All the other kinds of protein in this country gets labeled. We don’t label beef. I think when you’re talking about transparency, you’re talking about pricing and cattle markets, there probably isn’t anything that matters more to producers around this country than being able to differentiate their product from other products that are imported from other places around the world.”
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker also backed the amendment, calling country-of-origin labeling a matter of transparency for consumers and cattle producers.
“It makes no sense to me, with the pride that Americans have in supporting our nation and our nation’s producers, that we don’t inform them, honestly and fairly,” Booker said. “It is this obscuring of the facts, I think, that undermines our consumers, but also hurts our cattlemen and women.”
The proposal would still need to clear additional steps before becoming law.
Shaun Haney of RealAg Radio joined us on Friday’s Market Day Report to discuss the proposal after it advanced with bipartisan support during the Senate Agriculture Committee markup.
In his conversation with RFD News, Haney said he was surprised by the level of bipartisan support but noted the amendment still faces a difficult path because the House farm bill does not include M-COOL.
Haney also said the proposal could become part of broader U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement discussions if it advances, adding another layer to future trade negotiations.
