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In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, millions of Americans have rushed to grocery stores, hoping to keep their kitchens full as they acclimate to self-quarantining at home. As quickly as people are purchasing the food, our national food supply chain is responding.
Behind every stocked shelf are millions of America’s food heroes, working to keep the country fed while others are working from home.
As a senator from Nebraska, my state is home to many of these food heroes, including our cattle producers.
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In recent months, the COVID-19 outbreak has severely impacted these producers — both in Nebraska and across the country. Last month U.S. meat sales were up nearly 80 percent compared with last year. With restaurants closed and stay-at-home orders, many Americans are purchasing more beef at the supermarket.
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While this increase in sales has resulted in a windfall of profits for beef packers, the cattle producers and feeders who raise the beef that keeps Americans fed aren’t seeing the profits. Rather, they are experiencing lower cattle prices and a volatile futures market.
The health of the nation’s cattle industry is at risk. And we need to do something about it.
Last summer, after a fire at a beef processing plant in Holcomb, Kan., the U.S. Agriculture Department launched an investigation into potential anti-competitive activities after seeing huge disparities between boxed beef prices and cattle prices in futures and cash markets.
The fact that so many of cattle producers are not seeing the profits of soaring beef sales during this pandemic is troubling, and it’s not fair.
I asked Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to expand the USDA’s investigation to include recent market impacts as a result of COVID-19. Following my letter, the USDA announced that it is indeed expanding the scope of its investigation.
I also wrote to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights calling for a public hearing where cattle producers could be given a forum to make specific claims of anti-competitive behaviors that are harming their businesses.
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Looking into possible market manipulation is critically important. However, investigations take time and our producers need relief now.
I worked for the inclusion of $9.5 billion in emergency COVID-19 response funding for livestock producers, including cow/calf producers, in the CARES Act, the coronavirus relief package passed by Congress and signed into law.
To help ensure that cattle producers have access to these additional resources, I joined more than 140 of my colleagues in urging the USDA to deliver this assistance to them. There is bipartisan recognition of the stresses being faced by ag producers.
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All those involved in America’s food supply chain — from the feeders to the producers to the packers — are essential workers who keep our nation fed. The fact that so many of the producers are not seeing the profits of soaring beef sales during this pandemic is troubling, and it’s not fair.
I will keep working for our food heroes, just as they work for all of us.
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