Booker VS Grassley, Whose Legislation is Better?

By Jennifer Hill

With a sense of Deja Vu two competing pieces of legislation aimed at the cattle and beef markets were introduced in the last few weeks, each with a very different approach to improving a very damaged system. As with most legislation, both proposals hit some positive notes. However, unsurprisingly the bill introduced by vegetarian Senator Booker, who has made his disdain for animal agriculture clear, is heavy handed and creates a large wake. Sweeping legislation that covers a wide range of topics almost always carries large unintended consequences with it. If our industry is so determined to invite the government in to help reestablish our market and create a more level playing field, the legislation we allow them to create must be focused and targeted. Although not perfect, the Grassley bill comes much closer to achieving this. Increasing transparency and market clarity for producers without dipping their toes into worker’s union issues makes more sense for the average rancher. Call me nihilistic, but any time we ask the government to increase their role in our game we should prepare ourselves for disappointment.

Another Booker Bill

Days before the Thanksgiving holiday Democrat Senator Cory Booker from New York and Representative Ro Khanna (D- Cali), introduced the Protecting America’s Meatpacking Workers Act. Almost immediately R-CALF declared the proposed legislation a “silver bullet” for fixing the industry. Booker’s latest ag focused act contains three main pieces; protections for meat processing employees, cattle market reforms and reports on the fragility of the food system industry.

 The proposed market reforms are, of course, receiving the most discourse in our neck of the woods. They include a complete prohibition of formula contracts and require plants owned by the “Big Four” to purchase a minimum 50% of cattle from the cash market, daily, and that those cattle be slaughtered within 7 days. The bill reinstates Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling for beef, pork and dairy products and slightly strengthens the Packers and Stockyards Act, allowing for producers to recover attorney fees following successful PSA filings.  Additionally, the legislation places limits on processing plants receiving USDA grants, prohibiting them from being sold to any packer with more than a 10 percent market share for 10 years.

The worker’s safety portion of the Act creates additional inspection, reporting and safety standard programs while disallowing the Secretary of Agriculture from issuing waivers to increase line speed unless the plants can first prove that the increase in speed will not impact working conditions.

Grassley’s “Compromise” Bill

Earlier this month a small group of Senators including Chuck Grassley (R- Iowa), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Jon Tester (D- Mont) and Ron Wyden (D- Ore) sponsored legislation aimed at improving market transparency. The proposed legislation includes regional mandatory minimum thresholds for negotiated cash and grid trades, based on regional 18-month averages. Additionally, it states that no regional minimum can be more than three times the lowest regional minimum, nor may it be lower than the 18-month average established when the bill is enacted. The bill also seeks to improve price discovery by creating a library of sale contracts, similar to what is currently used in the pork market, while requiring packers to disclose how many cattle they intend to purchase each day for the next 14 days.