Contact:   H. Clay Daulton (209) 674-8226  For immediate release
Dr. John Helmuth (307) 637-5778  September 30, 1998

 The Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) is strongly disappointed with the agriculture appropriations conferees for failing to adopt the Kerry Amendment which would require a three year mandatory price reporting program for all livestock sold in the United States.  The OCM is also very disappointed with the failure of the conferees to adopt a country-of-origin labeling provision sponsored by Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota.  The House Republicans were unanimous in voting against these desperately needed laws in a late night conference committee session on Monday, September 28, 1998.

 "Independent livestock producers have been kept in the dark for years about the true prices which are paid for livestock regionally and nationally,"  according to OCM president, H. Clay Daulton.  "We were very pleased that the Senate heard the voice of independent agriculture and recognized the need for mandatory price reporting for livestock.  However, this defeat in the conference committee appears to be blatant indifference to the plight of farmers and ranchers."

 The present system of price reporting of cash livestock sales in the U.S. relies upon voluntary reporting of cash transactions by packers and producers to the Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) of the USDA.  Livestock buyers and producers have long known that the highest prices often are not reported to the AMS.  Thus, the reported daily cash price, in such instances, is lower than the actual spread.

 "The majority of the Senate recognized that a transparent market price discovery system is needed for cash transactions so farmers and ranchers have the best information possible when negotiating the sale of their livestock," said Dr. John Helmuth, agricultural economist and OCM board member.  "The stock market would not operate with efficiency and trust if only the insiders had access to all relevant market data.  The defeat of the mandatory price reporting provision was a vote against open, fair and competitive markets for producers and a victory for the big meat packers."

 The country-of-origin meat labeling provision would have required that meat produced in the United States would be labeled as such for the consumer.  "Many consumers want to support the American farmer and target their meat purchases accordingly," stated OCM board member Steve Cady.  "The conference committee not only voted against American farmers and ranchers, they voted against providing consumers with the best information available about the source of the food they buy for their families."

 The American Meat Institute, primarily representing the big meat packers, and the Food Marketing Institute, representing the big retail grocery chains, were successful in turning back the effort to bring more market information to independent agriculture.  Although farmers and ranchers were cautiously confident that the measures would pass earlier in the process, the special interest lobbyists were victorious in the end.

 "The OCM calls on the House and Senate to reject this new legislation and send it back to the committee to rework the bill,"  said Daulton.  "America's independent producers deserve to have full access to all market information to insure that the agricultural marketplace does not favor the big corporations which currently have a huge informational advantage."