Livestock market and pricing issues were among the top topics raised by members of the Senate Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee Tuesday as USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack appeared to testify on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 budget request for the agency.
The ranking Republican on the panel, Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., called for more pricing transparency and more competition in cattle markets in particular. Vilsack agreed on those issues, pointing to the recently released regulatory agenda where USDA said it would pursue rulemaking on the Packers & Stockyards Act.
Vilsack said USDA efforts to bolster meat processing capacity should have positive knock-on effects. He signaled USDA would be coming forward with plans to boost processing capacity, saying, "I think you will see over the course of the summer that we have a pretty unique approach to this that I think will result in significant expansion of processing."
Vilsack also said he supported the Meat Packing Special Investigator Act, that would create an "Office of the Special Investigator for Competition Matters" within the USDA's Packers and Stockyards Division. "I think it is a good proposal, I think it is part of what needs to be done," Vilsack said.