San Lucas, Calif. (May 21, 2007)--Bringing competition reform to the agricultural marketplace is crucial to protecting the viability of the U.S. cattle industry. To this end, the United States Cattlemen’s Association (USCA) joined 63 other groups in signing onto a letter to Chairman Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa) and the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry asking the recipients to support the inclusion of a competition title in the 2007 Farm Bill.
The letter, co-authored by USCA and National Farmers Union on behalf of a coalition of like-minded groups, expresses support for the language in Boswell’s competition reform bill (H.R. 2135) and asks that the provisions of the bill be included in the committee’s Farm Bill recommendations.
“Bringing competition reform to livestock markets is one of the most important things that USCA can do for the cattle industry and rural communities,” says USCA Marketing Committee Chairman and Region VIII Director Allan Sents. “Including the provisions of the Boswell bill in the 2007 Farm Bill is a critical step to achieving these reforms, and USCA is working to make sure that these critical reforms become law.”
The Boswell legislation, The Competitive and Fair Agricultural Markets Act of 2007, and its Senate companion (S. 622) contain provisions that will help grassroots producers by creating a more transparent system. The bills instruct the Secretary of Agriculture to clarify the many misinterpretations of the Packers and Stockyards Act (P&S Act) that have occurred in the past. The bills also ask the Secretary to define the term “unreasonable preference” as it relates to the P&S Act. Another important reform is the creation of an Office of Special Counsel for Competition Matters within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to oversee the enforcement of the P&S Act.
“To thrive, cattle producers need open and competitive markets and these reforms are integral to the transparency of the agricultural marketplace,” says Sents. “We need to add the provisions to the Farm Bill because they protect the integrity of our industry and the health of our futures. By signing onto this letter, and speaking to Subcommittee members about competition reform, USCA is taking a critical step in our quest to make competition reform a reality.”
However, Sents cautions that the competition title is not the only market reform provision that should be contained in the 2007 Farm Bill.
“For USCA and many other members of the coalition, our Farm Bill efforts will not end with competition reform. Other necessary legislation that has not yet been introduced in the House includes beef checkoff reform, ending the practice of captive supply and banning packer ownership of cattle. But these 63 organizations agree that competition reform is a benchmark from which these other reforms can grow.”
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