Mandatory Price Reporting Reauthorization Continues to Move Forward

Aug 05, 2010

By Kim Watson Potts, Beef Today editor

Last week, the House Agriculture Committee approved the Mandatory Price Reporting Act of 2010, H.R. 5852, and this week the Senate Agriculture Committee approved similar legislation, S. 3656. The bills reauthorize mandatory price reporting programs run by USDA for five years. Now the bill heads to the full House and Senate.

This legislation will reauthorize the law requiring meat packers to report to USDA the prices they pay producers for animals. Within both bills there's new language to expand price reporting to include wholesale pork cuts, pork export information and weekly electronic reporting of dairy prices. The National Pork Producers Council and the National Milk Producers Federation support these additions.

The current mandatory pricing authority is set to expire September 30.