USDA Releases Report on Historic
Market Disruptions
(WASHINGTON) - Today, the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its highly
anticipated report covering two market distorting events in the
past year in the U.S. cattle industry - the fire at a Tyson Foods'
processing facility in Holcomb, Kansas in August 2019 and the ongoing food
supply chain disruptions due to COVID-19.
United States Cattlemen's
Association (USCA) President Brooke Miller issued the following
statement:
"The top-line considerations
detailed in this report provide a roadmap for returning transparency and
true price discovery in the cattle marketplace. USCA has long since
advocated for making these changes through the reauthorization of
Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR), a program which is due to expire on
September 30, 2020.
"On July 1, USCA and twelve
other organizations sent a letter to Senate
Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts requesting a hearing be
held on the state of the U.S. cattle industry. It is simply unacceptable to
be met with silence, while producers are asked to weather another year of
declining farm and ranch income. Producer organizations have brought
forth real, tangible marketplace solutions that are underscored in this
report, and that deserve to be brought forward for discussion on Capitol
Hill.
"As noted in this report,
USDA's findings do not preclude the possibility that individual
entities or groups of entities violated the Packers and Stockyards Act. That
investigation is ongoing. We appreciate the work of USDA leadership and staff
in thoroughly examining these historic market disruptions and look
forward to the findings of the Department of
Justice investigation for a complete overview of the allegations
of anticompetitive and market distorting practices employed by the
meatpacking industry."
Source: US Cattlemen's Association
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