[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 111 (Tuesday, July 27, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6305-S6306]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. LINCOLN (for herself, Mr. Chambliss, Mr. Grassley, Mr. 
        Nelson of Nebraska, Mr. Johanns, Mr. Baucus, Mr. Bennet, Mr. 
        Harkin, and Mr. Roberts):
  S. 3656. A bill to amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to 
improve the reporting on sales of livestock and dairy products, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
Forestry.
  Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I am pleased to be joined by my 
colleagues, Senators Chambliss and Grassley, to introduce legislation 
that would reauthorize mandatory price reporting for another 5 years. 
This bill will guarantee transparency of the livestock marketing sector 
and help improve producers' timely access to market prices so that they 
can make the best decision on when to sell the livestock they have 
worked hard to bring to market.
  To address producers' concerns regarding low livestock prices, 
industry concentration, and the unavailability of accurate market 
information, Congress passed the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act in 
1999 to help improve market transparency.
  Producers tell me that Mandatory Price Reporting yields valuable 
information, helps to keep the markets honest, and helps take the guess 
work out of business decisions for producers and packers.
  This legislation, which is supported by producers and packers alike, 
will extend for an additional 5 years the reporting requirements of 
livestock daily markets. This bill makes two important changes from 
existing law.
  First, as specified in the 2008 Farm Bill, this bill will require 
Mandatory Reporting of Wholesale Pork, MRWP, cuts. A study on MRWP, 
required by the 2008 Farm Bill and published earlier this year, will 
help guide the new regulations. This legislation also included 
negotiated rule making that requires the Secretary of Agriculture to 
bring stakeholders, as well as representatives from industry and the 
Department of Agriculture together to design the regulations for 
reporting MRWP cuts. The bill requires that a final rule be completed 
no later than 18 months after it is signed by the President. This 
important addition, once completed, would simply expand transparency to 
the pork industry that was not previously required and further protect 
producers.
  Second, the bill instructs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish 
within 1 year an electronic price reporting system for dairy products. 
Published reports will be required on a weekly and monthly basis. This 
is a first critical step in continuing to assist our producers as they 
make decisions that impact their businesses. Furthermore, on a weekly 
basis, the Secretary of Agriculture must publish a report disclosing 
milk prices from the previous week. This too was included in the Farm 
Bill, and I am hopeful it will be another tool for dairy farmers across 
the country.
  This bill represents several months of negotiations by all interested 
stakeholders who worked hard to find compromise on these critical 
issues. I want to thank everyone involved in this process for working 
together to reach consensus. Those groups supporting the 
reauthorization bill include:
  American Farm Bureau Federation, American Meat Institute, American 
Sheep Industry Association, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, 
National Farmers Union, National Pork Producers Council, National Meat 
Association, and the United States Cattleman's Association.
  I look forward to moving this critical reauthorization through 
Congress so we do not disrupt the critical reporting

[[Page S6306]]

on livestock markets and so that family farmers and ranchers in 
Arkansas can have confidence that they are receiving fair market value.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a letter of support be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                     July 9, 2010.
     Hon. Blanche Lincoln,
     Chairman, Committee on Agriculture, U.S. Senate, Russell 
         Senate Office Building, Washington, DC.
     Hon. Saxby Chambliss,
     Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Agriculture, U.S. 
         Senate, Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC.
       Dear Chairman Lincoln and Ranking Member Chambliss: We, the 
     undersigned organizations, are writing to request that the 
     Senate Agriculture Committee work with relevant stakeholders 
     in the livestock industry to reauthorize for a period of five 
     (5) years the Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting provisions 
     contained in the 2006 Livestock Mandatory Reauthorization Act 
     (P.L. 109-296).
       The original 1999 Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting Act 
     was a culmination of many hours of negotiations among 
     industry participants and required packers to report, among 
     other things, livestock purchase prices to the USDA's 
     Agricultural Marketing Service. Livestock producers and 
     processors continue to need a transparent, accurate and 
     timely market price reporting system to make informed 
     business decisions. Mandatory price reporting makes markets 
     more transparent and offers new market information with 
     regard to pricing, contracting for purchase and supply and 
     demand conditions for cattle, hogs and sheep. During the 
     109th Congress, the Mandatory Price Reporting provisions were 
     reauthorized until September 30, 2010.
       The U.S. pork industry supports the inclusion in this 
     reauthorization of two new pork industry-specific provisions. 
     We believe these consensus recommendations will increase and 
     improve the transparency of the Livestock Mandatory Price 
     Reporting system. We recommend that the following consensus 
     provisions be included:
       1. Reporting of wholesale pork cuts. Require USDA to enter 
     a negotiated rulemaking process to develop this system.
       2. Reporting on a weekly basis of pork exports. These 
     exports should be added to the list of commodities that are 
     required to be reported to the Secretary of Agriculture. 
     Information reported should include any contract for export 
     sales entered into during the reporting period.
       These proposed provisions are part of a carefully balanced 
     consensus legislative package reached by interested 
     stakeholders over a long period of negotiation and discussion 
     representing all segments of the industry. We support the 
     consensus legislative package, including the new pork 
     reporting provisions, with the collective goal that mandatory 
     price reporting will be enacted before September 30, 2010.
       We recognize that the Committee has a full slate of 
     legislative business ahead, and we urge expeditious action to 
     reauthorize the Act for a period of five years with these 
     industry consensus recommendations. We look forward to 
     working with the Senate Agriculture Committee on this 
     important issue to America's livestock industry.
           Sincerely,
     American Farm Bureau Federation,
     American Meat Institute,
     American Sheep Industry Association,
     National Cattlemen's Beef Association,
     National Farmers Union,
     National Pork Producers Council,
     National Meat Association,
     United States Cattleman's Association.
                                 ______