The USDA is moving forward with additional steps to address competition issues in the meat and poultry markets.
On June 3, the department announced it was launching a new data visualization tool, the Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR) Live Cattle Data Dashboard. The tool will provide users the ability to view and access LMR live cattle market information.
The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will also publish additional information on the actual net premiums and discounts packers pay to producers under formula contracts, along with quality grade price distribution information.
“The enhanced insight gained from these powerful tools places producers on a more equal footing with large volume data users and fosters a fairer and more competitive marketplace,” USDA said.
AMS is in the process of testing the dashboard with stakeholders, and public access is expected to be available this summer.
Poultry markets
In addition, USDA is proposing a new rule to confront abuses in the poultry industry’s tournament payment system. The “Poultry Grower Payment Systems and Capital Improvement Systems” rule is the third in a set of Packers and Stockyards Act rules USDA has proposed to create fairer markets.
“As part of this effort, USDA committed to issuing new, stronger rules under the Packers and Stockyards Act, to provide greater clarity and strengthen enforcement under the Act,” USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
The proposed poultry market rule would prohibit deductions from the base price in contracts for broiler chicken growers, permitting only bonuses for performance. The rule would also provide tools for growers to identify risks that could arise on capital improvement practices and make it easier for USDA to enforce existing rules on unfair capital improvement practices.
USDA said the rule would also establish a duty of fair comparison to ensure tournaments are conducted in a reasonable and equitable way that does not disadvantage specific growers.
The proposed rule will be available for public comment for 60 days once it is published in the Federal Register. — Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
