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Ranchers back bill to improve transparency in cattle market
Legislation requires
meat-packing
companies to
maintain library of
marketing contracts
By KATY NESBITT
For the EO Media Group
P
ENDLETON — Oregon
ranchers frustrated with
low cattle prices and a mar-
ket skewed toward meat
packers are looking at legislation in
the U.S. Senate for relief.
The bill, introduced March 2
by Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb. and
co-sponsored by Ron Wyden,
D-Ore., would require the Secre-
tary of Agriculture, in consultation
with the department’s chief econo-
mist, to establish regionally suffi-
cient levels of negotiated cash and
negotiated grid trade.
The legislation also requires the
U.S. Department of Agriculture
to create and maintain a publicly
available library of marketing con-
tracts between packers and produc-
ers and to report all Livestock Man-
datory Reporting information.
Finally, the bill would mandate
that packers report the number of
cattle scheduled to be delivered for
slaughter each day for the next 14
days to the USDA and require the
department to report this informa-
tion on a daily basis.
Todd Nash, Oregon Cattlemen’s
Association vice president and
a Wallowa County rancher, said
that when Fischer first submitted
the proposed legislation in 2020,
he called Wyden’s Eastern Oregon
field office and asked for support.
“I think it is a good piece of leg-
islation,” Nash said. “Much to my
pleasure Kathleen Cathey called
me back and said that Ron was
going to cosponsor it.”
OCA President Tom Sharp said
his organization had a discussion
with Oregon’s other U.S. senator,
Jeff Merkley, in late March and he
is considering supporting the act,
S. John Collins/Baker City Herald File Photo
Cattle grazing in the sagelands east of Baker City.
but hasn’t yet taken a position.
A similar bill was introduced
in the House of Representatives by
Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo.
“We know Rep. Kurt Schrader
has endorsed the act and Rep Cliff
Bentz has announced his endorse-
what different classes of animals
are selling for — bred cows, steers,
bulls, feedstock and even cattle
sold through special programs and
branding like Painted Hills Natural
Beef.
But live cattle is a different story,
sounds good, but 50 percent on a
cash trade makes me head shy,”
Southworth said.
Southworth said meat packers
need a consistent supply of cattle,
and he’s concerned that if arrange-
ments are made ahead of time to
“MANY RURAL COMMUNITIES DEPEND UPON CATTLE
AS THEIR PRIME SOURCE OF ECONOMY.”
— Tom Sharp, OCA president
ment,” Sharp said, naming two of
Oregon’s congressman. Bentz, of
Ontario, represents the state’s Sec-
ond Congressional District, which
includes all of Oregon east of the
Cascade Mountains.
Included in the bill, Sharp
said, is a provision for fair price
discovery.
“What the act asks for is a cer-
tain amount of cash trade rather
than a formula or contract trade sit-
uation that has dominated the cat-
tle pricing market for many years,”
Sharp said.
Through Livestock Market
Reports, Nash said one can learn
and a much murkier one.
Nash said, “At two large pro-
cessing plants in Washington half
of the cattle come from Canada —
we have no idea what kind of deals
are being made and we don’t know
what live cattle markets are worth.
The transparency act would require
packers to negotiate some trade on
live cattle.”
Fischer and Wyden’s bill asks for
30% of sales to be negotiated, while
a bill from Sen. Chuck Grassley
calls for a higher number of 50%.
That higher percentage worries
Seneca rancher Jack Southworth.
“Increased transparency always
force this high percentage it could
stifle the market.
“A blanket prescription might
make it worse rather than better,”
Southworth said. “Forcing a certain
amount to be cash traded feels like
a square peg in a round hole.”
Sharp said this bill is import-
ant to the Cattlemen’s Association
because Oregon is a beef and cat-
tle producing state, not a packing
state, and the fair price discovery is
an important provision in the bill.
“Many rural communities
depend upon cattle as their prime
source of economy,” Sharp said.
Nash said the problem producers
want to address is the wide spread
between boxed beef prices — what
consumers pay — and the price of
live cattle.
“We’ve seen near record box
beef prices for quite some time, but
live cattle prices never catch up,”
Nash said.
In 2014 and 2015, Nash said the
elevated the price of boxed beef
was passed on to retailers and cat-
tle were bringing in a lot of money
at the time.
“It was a healthy time to be in
the livestock business,” Nash said.
“Since the fall of 2015 we saw live
cattle prices crash, but retail prices
never went down and there has
been manipulation within the pack-
ing business.”
Overall, Sharp said prices at the
producer level and at the auction
market are depressed and near the
same levels as 20 to 30 years ago.
“It becomes difficult to sustain
your business,” Sharp said.
That’s why Nash said he is hop-
ing the legislation under consider-
ation in Washington, D.C., can give
producers a point of negotiation.
“We wish we weren’t in a spot
to put any mandates on anybody,
but with the concentration of these
large feeders and large packers it’s
taken small producers out of the
equation,” Nash said. “We need to
look out for small livestock produc-
ers who have been really struggling
these last few years.”
According to Hank Stern, Ore-
gon press secretary for Wyden, the
bill is headed to the Senate’s Agri-
culture Committee.
“This legislation would help
Oregon ranchers by restoring a fair
market balance that increases com-
petition and transparency so cor-
porate meat packers aren’t ripping
off cattle ranches by unfairly driv-
ing down livestock prices,” Wyden
said. “That balance is especially
key so cattle ranchers can continue
growing their small businesses
here in our state and to ensure Ore-
gonians struggling to put food on
the table are paying fair meat prices
at the grocery store.”