Iowa Policy Passes at NCBA

Iowa Policy Passes at NCBA

The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association returned from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association victorious, after garnering enough support to pass two new interim cattle marketing policies at the national level.

Both policies are intended to provide more information and leverage to Iowa’s cattle producers. The first policy advocates for a “Next Day Cattle Weights” report from USDA, similar to the report published daily in the hog industry. This change would allow the industry to more quickly see national carcass weight fluctuations through quicker reporting via USDA’s Agriculture Marketing Service.

The second policy is related to formula transactions, which have been increasing at an alarming rate over the past few years. More than 50% of Iowa’s cattle marketed through negotiated cash, providing ample price discovery in the region. Other regions of the U.S., however, trade less than 10% through negotiated trade.

The policy brought forward by Iowa’s Feedlot Council advocates for NCBA to support initiatives to increase transparency in formula transactions and to require Livestock Mandatory Reporting to publicly report the details of formula transactions including the net price, base price, and any premiums.

“Market transparency is the biggest challenge that this industry has been facing and we have to work with others to find solutions together,” says Matt Deppe, CEO of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association. “And it doesn’t matter what type of marketing transaction you prefer, more transparency of even historic data like this will assist producers as it relates to available data to better leverage market opportunities.”