Price Reporting Could Help
Dispel Distrust Of Packers

FARGO, N.D. —(AP)— A U.S. Senate proposal that would require meatpackers and others to disclose all livestock sales could help end some distrust, North Dakota livestock interests say.

But it may never settle the question of whether the nation's three big meatpackers are intentionally forcing cattle prices down.

"I don't know if, feasibly or logistically, anyone could actually ever answer that," said Wade Moser, executive vice president of the North Dakota Stockmen's Association. "But I think the idea of looking closer at the meatpacker aspect is a very good idea."

An amendment to the Senate's version of the agriculture appropriations bill sets up a three-year pilot program requiring any buyer, seller or marketer to report all sales of livestock or meat to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Currently, most fed cattle sales are private transactions between feedlots and meatpackers, and a large and growing percentage of those involve no competitive bidding or price disclosure.

Many producers believe that form of purchasing is to blame for a 10 percent to 15 percent decline in cattle prices in recent years.

"There's always been a lack of trust between the cow-calf producer and the meatpackers," Moser said. "We would like more information about the cattle they buy. But we have some mixed emotions about how the bill is worded, whether it will actually give us any better information."

Specifically, Moser said, the bill does not say whether meatpackers and feedlots must specify the price paid for each grade of cattle, or whether all purchases will simply be averaged.

An average price does little to address producers' concerns, Moser said.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association opposes the mandatory price-discovery provision, calling it an unfair intrusion into private business.

Roger Stuber, a Bowman cattle rancher and past president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, said the group wants the prices to be public. But Stuber believes a mandatory reporting requirement is the wrong approach.

Stuber chaired a special association task force earlier this year. Its recommendation was that producers, feedlots and meatpackers be allowed to develop a voluntary reporting system.

"We said, ‘Look, this is a contentious issue, even within our own group,’" Stuber said. "What we asked for was 18 months ... to bring in the best possible people and see if we could correct the problem voluntarily."

The Senate agriculture appropriations bill, including the reporting requirement sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., has been approved by the full Senate. A House version of the bill, however, does not contain the reporting requirement, and differences in the two versions must be negotiated.

Scott Stofferahn, director of the federal Farm Service Agency in North Dakota, said many producers believe the reporting requirement will prove meatpackers like IBP Inc., Cargill Inc. and ConAgra Inc. are manipulating prices. But he says there's no guarantee the measure will do that.

Still, Stofferahn said opening their sales records is the best way for the packers to prove they are not responsible for low prices.

"I understand they're not to excited about doing it," Stofferahn said. "But I don't see why they would be opposed to it if what they say they're doing — that they're not influencing the prices — is true."