"Senate Farm Bill amendments could be damaging to cattle industry: WOODALL"

After hitting an impasse last month, the Senate has reached some degree of compromise on the Farm Bill and it is making rapid progress this week. An agreement limiting each party to 20 amendments has helped advance the debate. Colin Woodall, executive director of legislative affairs for NCBA, says the progress is encouraging, but some of the proposed amendments could seriously damage the U.S. cattle industry.

Woodall says an amendment sponsored by Sen. Charles Grassley (D-Iowa) would create a task force to review mergers and competition issues in agriculture. An amendment by Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) would remove certain statutory justifications for prices paid for livestock. While these ideas may have surface appeal, they could actually cause problems for some ventures that have proven to be very profitable for cattle producers.

Cut #1                          :47      Outcue:   "… to judge the lawsuit by."

Contrary to popular belief, the marketing alliances and value-added programs threatened by these amendments are not the exclusive domain of large cattle feeders. Woodall says these programs benefit thousands of cattle producers of every size and type of operation.

Cut #2                         :41      Outcue:    “…long way in killing these.”