Wyoming U.S. Sen. Enzi, ranchers, advocates target beef prices in farm bill

Big Ag got a big break in the U.S. Senate’s version of the farm bill, according to Wyoming ranchers and stock grower advocacy groups. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., filed two amendments that aimed to provide more transparency in the beef market, but the proposed legislation failed to become part of the Senate’s version of the five-year, $500 billion farm bill last week. Enzi called the legislation a step backward for agriculture policy. His amendments sought to eliminate practices that allow meat packers to manipulate prices and shut out independent cattle producers from beef markets, said Sara Kendall, the Washington, D.C., office director for the Western Organization of Resource Councils. The lobbying firm promotes the interests of independent cattlemen in the West. Enzi has for years aimed to change the way prices are negotiated between the nation’s 75,100 feedlot operators and the four dominant meat packers in the country: Tyson, Cargill, National Beef and JBS. Enzi’s amendments would have required that a base price be set at the time of the deal instead of using formulas to predict prices. The amendments also called for the sale of all cattle on the open market instead of through contracts signed behind closed doors...more