Number: RL33325
Title: Livestock Marketing and Competition Issues
Authors: Renee Johnson and Geoffrey S. Becker, Resources, Science, and Industry Division 
Abstract: Some groups believe that federal officials have not enforced existing laws designed to prevent anti-competitive behavior, and/or that the laws themselves should be strengthened to better address today's market realities. Others assert that present competition and antitrust policies remain adequate and effective. They believe that the sector's structural changes are a desirable outgrowth of other factors such as technological and managerial improvements, changing consumer demand, and more international competition. Early in the 110th Congress, a number of bills were introduced to address one or more of these perceived problems in livestock markets, which sponsors often broadly refer to as "competition issues." The Senate version of the farm bill (H.R. 2419) includes many of these provisions: it creates a new Special Counsel for Agricultural Competition at USDA to investigate and prosecute violations of competition laws; prohibits most major packers from owning or controlling livestock more than 14 days prior to slaughter; provides new protections to producers and producer groups under the Agricultural Fair Practices Act (AFPA); strengthens enforcement authorities over live poultry dealers under the Packers and Stockyards (P&S) Act; alters some provisions for swine and pork in the Mandatory Livestock Price Reporting Program; and establishes new mandatory reporting requirements for dairy products, among other provisions. With the exception of a provision on arbitration clauses in livestock and poultry contracts, there are comparably fewer provisions addressing competition issues in the House version of the farm bill. Consequently, the inclusion of competition provisions in the new farm bill will likely be a conference item during farm bill negotiations between the House and Senate.
Pages: 20
Date: January 15, 2008