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Bullard says restoring market competition remains a top priority for R-CALF USA

The head of R-CALF USA says restoring competition to the marketplace remains one of the organization’s top priorities. 

Bill Bullard says competition has been purged from the cattle industry and it needs to be restored.  “We must have mandatory Country of Origin Labeling,” he says.  “We must restore competition. That means we must regulate the oligopolistic meat packers who are leveraging prices down in the marketplace.”

He tells Brownfield there are multiple pieces of legislation that have been introduced into Congress to provide meaningful reform and guide the cattle industry back to independence.  “We’ve got three country of origin labeling bills, one in the Senate, two in the U.S. House,” he says. “We have several bills that include our market reforms — like the ban on packer ownership of livestock, the prohibition of unpriced formula contracts, and the need to require packers to purchase 50% of their cattle in the cash market.”

Bullard says the proposed bills couldn’t come at a better time.  “Our members are encouraged,” he says. “Those issues are all included in the legislation that’s now sitting before Congress at the very time that Congress is considering the 2023 Farm Bill.”

In addition to Country of Origin Labeling, Bullard says R-CALF members would like to see Congress reintroduce the 50-14 rule, a ban on packer ownership of livestock, and a ban on formula contracts that do not contain a firm base price. 

AUDIO: Bill Bullard, R-CALF USA