Producer Groups Seek
Hearings In Senate

WASHINGTON — The leaders of three national livestock groups have asked the U.S. Senate to conduct a hearing to examine low prices throughout the livestock industry.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association joined the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Farmers Union in requesting the hearing.

"It is unusual for prices of all meats to be depressed at the same time, and for producers and processors to be simultaneously experiencing poor margins," said Clark Willingham, NCBA president and a cattle producer from Dallas, Texas. "The infrastructure of the livestock sector is vulnerable to large losses in both the producing and processing sectors."

The industry leaders asked the Senate to address:

• the importance to U.S. agriculture of expanding trade opportunities;

• the impact of the Asian financial crisis on livestock prices;

• the impact of competitive market forces, including changes in domestic and international competing meat industries, on meat and livestock prices;

• the need for changes and improvements in price reporting;

• the need for more timely export sales and shipping information;

• a review of the current concentration levels in the various meat industries with a comparison to anti-trust legal boundaries and relative to changes occurring in the banking and software industries;

• the labeling of domestic and imported products; and,

• the response of various meat industries to changing consumer trends and demographics.