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Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
JEFFERSON CITY - John Harrison, owner and operator of Callaway Livestock Center, expects Monday will be business as usual after a fleeting price scare rattled Missouri's cattle industry.
Last week, it was rumored that major packers would pull out of local livestock markets to retaliate against a price discrimination and reporting law passed last spring. The legislation would have taken effect Saturday.
The new law was designed to level the playing field for family farmers, some of whom say they may not get a fair price from corporate meat packers. But on Friday, U.S. District Judge Scott Wright granted a temporary order blocking implementation of the law - thus delaying a potential price crisis in Missouri's cattle industry.
Major players in the Missouri meat industry had filed suit in U.S. District Court in Kansas City on Tuesday to stop implementation of the law. Kurt Hamilton, executive secretary of the Missouri Livestock Marketing Association, which represents around 60 livestock sale barns, said the pullout of giant packers like Iowa Beef Packers would devastate the market.
"It is a bittersweet situation," said Hamilton. "We need packers to buy the cattle."
IBP buys more than a third of the slaughter livestock in Missouri, said Bill Heffernan, a University of Missouri rural sociologist.
Last month, IBP suspended cash purchase of livestock in South Dakota after a law similar to Missouri's went into effect. A federal judge upheld the price-reporting section of the law, which requires packers to disclose the going price for livestock. But the judge struck down a section that prohibits price discrimination for the same quality animal.
IBP spokesman Gary Mickelson said the company has no plans of abandoning Missouri.
"We will continue to buy livestock in Missouri, and anyone who says different is misleading the public," Mickelson said.
That is good news for Harrison, who estimates that IBP buys 50 percent to 75 percent of the slaughter calves that run through his livestock center.
The legislation's sponsor, Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, said that if packers pull out of local markets, the Missouri National Farmers Organization will step in and serve as a buyer to ensure producers get at least the national price for their animals. Often, there may be only two buyers at a livestock sale, so prices could be dramatically different if one of the buyers did not show up.
Despite similarities to South Dakota's law, Maxwell said Missouri's law allows quality to influence price. "We allow better prices for better beef," Maxwell said.
Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota have passed similar laws.
Maxwell said this is not just a state issue, but a national issue as well. Maxwell filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture over concerns that packers may violate the Federal Packers and Stockyards Act. Maxwell said that law states packers should not be discriminating in prices paid for livestock.
As a result of Maxwell's complaint, rapid response teams will visit Kirksville, Marshall, Maryville and Mexico to investigate.