Animal Agriculture: 2007 Farm Bill Issues Page: 2 of 21
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Animal Agriculture: 2007 Farm Bill Issues
Summary
With a few exceptions (such as milk), the products of animal agriculture are not
eligible for the price and income supports that Congress historically has written into
farm bills for major row crops such as grains, cotton, and oilseeds. However, the
meat and poultry industries do look to the federal government for leadership and
support in promoting their exports, resolving trade disputes, and reassuring markets
that their products are safe, of high quality, and disease-free. Farm bills can contain
policy guidance and resources to help achieve these objectives.
Also, animal producers closely follow the development of a new farm bill
because of its potential impact on their production marketing costs. For example,
policies promoting crop-based alternative fuels like ethanol already have raised the
prices of corn and soybeans, both important animal feedstuffs. Where additional
biofuels policy incentives are being considered for inclusion in a 2007 farm bill,
cattle, hog, and poultry producers have been urging restraint and/or encouraging more
use of non-feed crops like grasses and field wastes. Other potential farm bill issues
of interest include proposals from animal welfare groups to regulate on-farm care of
animals; and from some farmer-rancher coalitions to address perceived anti-
competitive market behavior by large meat and poultry processing companies.
The market value of animal production on U.S. dairy, livestock, and poultry
farms was more than $105 billion in 2002, more than half the total value of all U.S.
agricultural production (2002 Census of Agriculture). Producers continue to face
intense pressures to become larger, more specialized, and more cost-efficient in an
increasingly global marketplace.
In the 110th Congress, the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee has
introduced wide-ranging legislation (S. 622) to be the basis for a new "competition"
title in the next farm bill; it would strengthen producer rights when contracting with
meat and poultry processors; expand the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's)
responsibilities to enforce competitive behavior; and extend to many crop markets
some of the antitrust rules that now apply to meat packers. S. 305, S. 221, and S. 786
also propose new regulations for various farm animal buyers and/or processors.
Other bills would require USDA to implement mandatory country-of-origin
labeling on meats by September 30, 2007, instead of the currently set deadline of
September 30, 2008 (H.R. 357; S. 404); prohibit USDA from carrying out a
mandatory animal identification program (H.R. 1018); ban the slaughter of horses for
food (H.R. 503, S. 311); require that nonambulatory livestock be euthanized and not
used for food (H.R. 661, S. 394); and impose animal care standards on suppliers of
food to the federal government (H.R. 1726). Some of these also might be offered for
consideration in a new farm bill.
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Becker, Geoffrey S. Animal Agriculture: 2007 Farm Bill Issues, report, April 11, 2007; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc818790/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.