Rep. Dusty Johnson’s cattle contract bill passes

WASHINGTON — Another cattle pricing transparency effort from Congressman Dusty Johnson is taking a giant step forward in Washington, D.C.

The House Agriculture Committee today unanimously passed the bipartisan Cattle Contract Library Act.

Johnson says this bill is the culmination of nearly a year’s work with producers and others in the industry after a 2020 report pinpointed concerns surrounding cattle pricing in the U.S.

The bill would create a digital nationwide database of cattle contracts with packers, to better serve producers when pricing their livestock.

Johnson says advances in the industry have left transparency behind.

“Now as we’ve had sales move away from the sale barn, away from cash sales and toward alternate marketing agreements, transparency has been harder to come by,” Johnson said. “And so what this bill does is it injects much needed transparency back into this marketplace.”

The bill has the support of a number of major producer groups, including the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association.