MFU praises livestock reports, right to repair order from feds

Staff and wire report

Montana Farmers Union has praised recent actions taken by President Biden and the Agriculture Department to increase transparency in the market and to increase ag producers’ ability to repair their equipment.

As a result of Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy, the USDA has announced that beginning Monday, Aug. 9, it will issue two new USDA Market News reports based on Livestock Mandatory Reporting Data, a release said. This data will provide transparency into the formula cattle trades, enhance price discovery and help promote fair and competitive cattle markets

“At times there is less than 10% cash trade which allows the packers to easily manipulate the price paid on 90% of the cattle,” MFU President Walter Schweitzer said. “This lack of transparency is destroying our markets and producers. This new reporting system will go a long way to increase competition in the market and level the playing field for producers. This type of action is what we were asking for when we met with the Livestock Marketing Association in May. We are encouraged to see tangible actions come out of the president’s Executive Order.”

The National Daily Direct Formula Base Cattle reports will enable stakeholders to see the correlation between the negotiated trade and reported formula base prices, as well as the aggregated values being paid as premiums and discounts. Daily formula base price reports will be national in scope and released in morning, summary and afternoon versions. The weekly and monthly formula base reports will be both national and regional in scope and include forward contract base purchase information. 

The National Weekly Cattle Net Price Distribution report will show at what levels (price and volume) trade occurred across the weekly weighted average price for each purchase type — negotiated, negotiated grid, formula and forward contract. Currently, the market speculates whether large or small volumes of cattle trade on both sides of the price spread. And in fact, with premiums and discounts applied to the prices, the spreads shown on reports can be wide. Publishing a price distribution for all cattle net prices will offer more transparency to each of the purchase type categories.

And Montana Farmers Union has been working on the right to repair and said in a release it is encouraged by action from Biden and it will continue to work on the issue.

In the Executive Order to Promote Competition in the American Economy, Biden encourages the FTC to limit powerful equipment manufacturers from restricting people’s ability to use independent repair shops or do DIY repairs — such as when tractor companies block farmers from repairing their own tractors.

“We appreciate the president’s executive order on right to repair,” a release from Montana Farmers Union said. “It brings the issue to the national stage for potential action by the FTC. Planting and harvest is a timely process for all farmers and ranchers. It is critical machinery is in good working condition. Broken or disabled equipment determine the success of an entire crop season. 

“Currently, there are only three major equipment manufacturers that sell into Montana,” the release adds. “These companies have placed proprietary software on their equipment that prevents local heavy equipment mechanics from diagnosing and repairing tractors and combines. These companies only allow their technicians to make repairs.

“Farming and ranching are very stressful, the release concludes. “Farmers have the highest suicide rate of any demographic. When you have a crop ready for harvest and your equipment is broke down, you have to wait for a dealer to fix it, and you are not allowed to fix it yourself. This is stressful. Having the right to repair our own equipment will not only save money, it will increase food security. ”