Lucas' Cattle Contract Library Act Passes House
Washington, DC – Tonight, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5609- the Cattle Contract Library Act. Introduced by Representatives Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), and Frank Lucas (R-OK), the bipartisan bill would direct the United State Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) to establish a contract library for cattle producers, ensuring more transparency in the cattle market for producers. Congressman Frank Lucas released the following statement praising the passage of the Cattle Contract Library Act:
“Market strains have highlighted the vulnerabilities our cattlemen and women face day in-and-day out. For far too long, cattle producers have operated under volatile market conditions, forced to accept declining prices for live cattle while the cost of beef goes up at the grocery store. In order to guarantee greater competition, price discovery, and transparency, producers must be able to leverage marketing data while negotiating the price of cattle- and the Cattle Contract Library Act does just that,” said Congressman Frank Lucas. “I thank my House colleagues for passing the Cattle Contract Library Act, which will help America’s cattlemen and women better negotiate higher prices for their cattle. As Oklahoma’s farmers and ranchers know, data drives marketing decisions and the Cattle Contract Library Act will improve transparency and give more leverage to Oklahoma’s cattle producers. I thank Congressman Johnson and Congressman Cuellar for their leadership on this issue, and I look forward to working with our Senate colleagues to move this legislation forward.”
Currently, USDA maintains a pork contract library, and following significant volatility in the cattle market and the release of the July 2020 Boxed Beef & Fed Cattle Price Spread Investigation Report, the creation of a cattle contract library was recommended by experts and stakeholders.
Read more »by Muskogee Politico - December 10, 2021 at 08:08AM
Lucas' cattle bill passes House, aims to bring transparency to market for producers
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