The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) hopes to voluntarily increase price discovery in the cattle industry with its new “75% Plan.”

A shortage of price discovery, particularly in the fed cattle market, has existed because people are using alternative market agreements instead of negotiated trade in many cases, said Tanner Beymer, NCBA Director of Government Affairs and Market Regulatory Policy.

“That decline in negotiated trade is problematic because that direct buyer/seller interaction between cattle feeders and packers is what sets the tone for the whole market. It gives everybody an idea of where the market is at any given time,” said Beymer.

Producers need access to good data and true price discovery to make informed marketing decisions, which is why industry leaders began to look for solutions at the organization’s summer business meeting in Denver. The member-developed approach lays out a framework to increase negotiated fed cattle trade and incentive each of the major packers’ participation in such cash trade. The plan provides benchmarks for the industry to strive toward, beginning at 75 percent with hopes of increasing that number over time.