National livestock groups are uniting to support Congressional efforts to expand opportunities for industry to invest in meat packing capacity. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Pork Producers Council, American Farm Bureau Federation, American Sheep Industry Association, Livestock Marketing Association and United States Cattlemen’s Association sent a letter to the Chairpeople and Ranking Members of the Senate and House Agriculture Committees expressing the groups' support of legislation to allow livestock market owners and operators to own or invest in small or regional livestock packing facilities, the Livestock Marketing Association (LMA) said in a release.
"We ask that your committees consider and advance this commonsense legislation which will increase packing capacity, add competition for producers, and modernize the law by reducing an unnecessary and outdated regulatory burden," the letter states. The bipartisan legislation, the Expanding Local Meat Processing Act (S. 813), was reintroduced by Sens. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) last week. This is the Senate companion to the Amplifying Processing of Livestock in the United States (APLUS) Act (H.R.530), being led by U.S. Representatives Mark Alford (R-MO), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), and Dusty Johnson (R-SD).
"If enacted, these bills would direct the Secretary of Agriculture to update a regulatory prohibition under the Packers and Stockyards Act which bars livestock auction owners from owning or investing in packers," LMA noted. The letter explained that this is an "antiquated rule that does not fit with the current, transparent method of selling livestock at an open auction where sellers can view the transaction either in person or by streaming the auction online.”
Source: drovers.com
Categories: Kentucky, Livestock