Senator urges USDA to Create Livestock Marketing Council
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) has urged the USDA to consider new initiatives that would provide lawmakers and agriculture producers with more information about the competition issues facing the U.S. livestock sector.
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In a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, Hagel encouraged the USDA to create a Council on Competition, comprised of USDA experts, livestock producers and industry representatives.
“American agriculture has seen tremendous structural changes in recent years. Livestock producers, in particular, are increasingly concerned by concentration within the industry -- from production, to processing, to retail sales. According to many of the producers I represent, this consolidation has resulted in less market competition, less price transparency and, at times, lower prices for producers,“ Hagel said in the letter.
The USDA-sponsored Council on Competition would clearly define the issues surrounding agriculture concentration and seek consensus among individual producers regarding possible government regulatory action. The Council would also oversee a $4.5 million study of the proposed ban on packer ownership of livestock.
Source: Senator Chuck Hagel - 27th March 2003
31 March 2003
2 minute read
