Meat Institute: USDA Continues to Over Regulate Beef and Cattle Markets

Following the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) requests for more information on possible new rules under the Packers and Stockyards Act on price discovery in cattle markets, Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts made the following statement:

“Biden’s USDA is once again attempting to assert government control over the free market to the detriment of cattle producers, packers and consumers,” Potts says. “This is not about transparency. This is about the government dictating how cattle may be bought and sold.

Potts says transparency already required in these markets and cattle producers have received record high prices for several years.

“When USDA says it wants to ‘enhance fairness’ in cattle markets, they mean pick winners and losers. They want to end the use of Alternative Marketing Arrangements (AMAs) and force producers and packers into the cash market. AMAs are a livestock producer-driven innovation that rewards producers who are developing value-added products by investing in their herds’ genetics and other traits, improving quality, or raising cattle using certain sustainability practices. Despite the Administration’s belief otherwise, cattle production operations are not all the same and the cattle they produce are not one-size-fits all. Moving back in time to a commodity cattle market will reduce competition, innovation, and quality, ultimately hurting the entire industry. Livestock producers ought to be rewarded for their innovation in the marketplace," Potts says.