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Bullard says Grassley/Tester bill important first step

The CEO of R-CALF USA says he worked closely with U.S. Senators Grassley and Tester on their recently introduced bill to increase transparency in cattle pricing. Bill Bullard tells Brownfield Ag News, “One of the first things we need to do is restore the integrity of our price discovery market and that’s what this bill does by requiring the packers to purchase at least 50% of their procurement needs in the competitive cash market.”

Bullard calls the cash market the holy grail for the cattle industry because it helps formulate the base price of all livestock regardless of weight, “So this is a very important piece of legislation. It’s the first step towards restoring competition in a broken marketplace.”

Bullard says the second step is to reinstate the tool producers need to compete in the marketplace – mandatory Country of Origin Labeling.

Bullard says the value of cattle needs to be reconnected with the value of beef.