RFA Ethanol Podcast

Senate Hearing Examines Cattle Markets

Cindy Zimmerman

The Senate Committee on Agriculture held a hearing Wednesday on “Examining Markets, Transparency, and Prices from Cattle Producer to Consumer” to address a wide range of issues, including the urgent need for robust price discovery and differing industry views on how to achieve it, greater market transparency and oversight, and expanded beef processing capacity.

Among the witnesses was Mark Gardiner, owner-operator of Gardiner Angus Ranch in Kansas, who testified on behalf of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).

In his opening remarks, Gardiner confirmed the importance of solutions that put producers in the driver’s seat. “Please do not create regulations and legislation that have the unintended consequence of harming value-based marketing. Doing so would undo many years of progress for producers such as my family and those of our customers,” said Gardiner. “Onerous legislation has the potential to result in a reversal of quality that is simply unacceptable to consumers.”

Earlier this month, NCBA and 37 affiliate state cattle organizations sent a letter urging the leadership of the U.S. Senate and House Agriculture Committees to address critical areas of concern in the cattle and beef industry. Multiple lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have written the U.S. Department of Justice calling for the swift conclusion of their investigation into whether or not anticompetitive practices have taken place in the meatpacking sector. NCBA was also at the forefront in 2019 of calling for an investigation after the “black swan” market event of a fire at Tyson Foods’ Finney County beef plant in Holcomb, Kansas.

Recent industry meetings in Phoenix, Arizona and Kansas City, Missouri have also brought together economists, associations, and market participants to discuss industry-led solutions.

Listen to Gardiner’s opening remarks here:
Mark Gardiner, Kansas, testifies for NCBA (5:12)

Last week in Washington DC, NCBA Directory of Market Regulatory Policy Tanner Beymer discussed the issue and said there is no one answer to the problem.
Tanner Beymer, NCBA (2:11)

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