Senator Deb Fischer is a co-sponsor of the Cattle Price Discovery Bill and recently shared her own update.
Fischer created the bill in response to a 94 percent increase in the spread between boxed beef and fed cattle prices in the early days of the pandemic. Those numbers came from a USDA investigative report. The bill establishes minimum levels of negotiated cash trade and creates a library of AMA contracts to allow producers to see what premiums others are getting.
“We all realize that markets cycle, but when you look at the discrepancies out there, on what feeders we’re selling their product to the packers, they were losing $800-1,200 per head. That’s not good for them and their families. It’s certainly not good for the livestock industry, and it hurts the state of Nebraska. It hurts our economy as well. I’m usually not a fan of any kind of mandate, but I think by making this legislation a regional piece, where it affects regions, not nationally, ya know we’re all different. So, we want to have that regional piece in there to have that mandated reporting, I think that’s extremely important so we know what’s going on in Nebraska, what the market’s doing.”
Cattle groups have mixed feelings about the bill.
Related:
Senator Fischer Fights for More Transparency in the Cattle Market
Rep. Johnson: Transparency in cattle market is needed
A contract library will help with cattle market transparency
