Northwest Iowa — The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association will host a series of ten cattle marketing meetings, including two here in northwest Iowa, starting this week.
Cora Fox, the association’s director of government relations, says they’ll be sharing information on possible solutions before the U.S. Senate to the long-running cattle marketing problem.
(As above) “You do not have to be a member of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association to attend these meetings,” Fox says. “The purpose of these meetings is to inform and engage with our producers on these specific issues. We’ll be talking about the three potential options that are on the table to drive some lasting change within our industry.”
Fox says one of the cattle market reform proposals involves legislation co-sponsored by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley.
(As above) “It requires that packers participate in the cash market 50% of the time and it also requires that you have delivery of cattle that you make an agreement on within two weeks,” Fox says. “That legislation has widespread support.”
Fox says another possible solution comes from an National Cattlemen’s Beef Association working group.
(As above) “The voluntary proposal is obviously going a different route than having government intervention, but it also still says the packers have to get involved in the cash market, just in a different way,” Fox says. “We want to make sure producers have access to the most up-to-date, accurate information so we’re going to put that out in front of them.”
The meetings begin Tuesday and run through November 19th. In our area, there are two meetings scheduled, both for this Wednesday, November 11th. There will be a meeting at 10:00 am at the Plymouth County Extension Office in Le Mars and another at 7:00 Wednesday evening at Spencer Livestock Sales in Spencer. For more information, or to register for either of these meetings, visit iacattlemen.org.
