USDA Launches Cattle-Sales Database to Check Meat Giants’ Power
A USDA Choice sticker on a package of rib steak in a supermarket in New York.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
The Biden administration introduced a public database on payment terms for private cattle sales, designed to give producers more leverage in negotiating with the four meatpacking giants that dominate US beef processing.
The Cattle Contracts Library will go live as a pilot project at noon on Tuesday and will disclose terms for all cattle-purchase contracts made by large meat packers, but not the identities of buyers or sellers, US Agriculture Department officials said. That will include how the base price in each contract is calculated and premiums paid for special traits such as prime-grade beef, Angus cattle or hormone-free animals, as well as penalties deducted for less-desirable livestock such as older cattle.