To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to establish a cattle contract library, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill, the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act, reforms how fed cattle are bought and sold in the United States. It creates a public library of contracts between meatpackers and cattle producers, requires packers to report detailed information about cattle deliveries and slaughter schedules, and mandates that packers purchase a minimum percentage of cattle through competitive, negotiated cash trades rather than formula-based contracts.
Who Benefits and How
Independent cattle ranchers and feedlot operators benefit from increased market transparency and mandatory minimum cash trade requirements, which give them more leverage in price negotiations. The public cattle contract library allows producers to compare contract terms and make more informed marketing decisions. Small and mid-sized cattle producers gain bargaining power against large meatpackers.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Large meatpacking companies (covered packers processing 5% or more of fed cattle) face significant new compliance burdens: they must report contract details, cattle delivery schedules, and meet mandatory minimums for negotiated cash purchases in each region. Packers that relied heavily on formula contracts will need to shift purchasing practices. The USDA must establish and maintain new reporting systems and enforcement mechanisms.
Key Provisions
- Creates cattle contract library requiring packers to publicly file contract terms, premiums, discounts, and cattle volumes
- Requires packers to report 14-day cattle slaughter schedules by 10:00 AM Central daily
- Establishes 5-7 regional mandatory minimums for negotiated cash cattle purchases
- Increases penalties for reporting violations from $10,000 to $90,000 per violation per day
- Requires USDA study on alternative marketing arrangements tied to boxed beef prices
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Establishes a cattle contract library, mandatory reporting requirements for packers, and minimum negotiated cash trade requirements to improve price discovery and transparency in fed cattle markets
Key Policy Areas
Agriculture, Antitrust & Competition, Commodity Markets
Primary Purpose
Establishes a cattle contract library, mandatory reporting requirements for packers, and minimum negotiated cash trade requirements to improve price discovery and transparency in fed cattle markets
Policy Domains
Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2023
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Independent cattle ranchers
- Small and mid-sized feedlot operators
- Rural communities dependent on cattle production
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Large meatpacking companies
- USDA Agricultural Marketing Service
- Formula contract-dependent packers
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMrs. Fischer (for herself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Tester, Mr. Wyden, …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Cattle industry stakeholders, Cattle market participants, Cattle market participants in Illinois and South Dakota
Covered packers (5%+ of fed cattle), Covered packers violating reporting requirements, Formula contract-dependent packers
USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting, USDA reporting systems
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "producer"
- → Cattle rancher or feedlot operator
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Agriculture
- "covered_packer"
- → Meatpacker processing 5% or more of fed cattle nationally
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Purchase of fed cattle through negotiated purchase, negotiated grid purchase, stockyard sale, or trading platform where multiple buyers and sellers can make bids and offers
A steer or heifer that has been finished on a ration of roughage and feed concentrates prior to slaughter
Minimum percentage of fed cattle that must be purchased through an approved pricing mechanism by a covered packer at each processing plant
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology