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On April 2, 2001, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) implemented the Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR) program as required by the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 (1999 Act). In October 2006, the LMR program was reauthorized by Congress through September 2010. On September 28, 2010, the Mandatory Price Reporting Act of 2010 (2010 Reauthorization Act) reauthorized LMR for an additional 5 years and added a provision for mandatory reporting of wholesale pork cuts. The 2010 Reauthorization Act directed the Secretary to engage in negotiated rulemaking to make required regulatory changes for mandatory wholesale pork reporting and establish a negotiated rulemaking committee to develop these changes. This proposed rule reflects the work of the USDA Wholesale Pork Reporting Negotiated Rulemaking Committee (Committee).
The objective of this rule is to improve the price and supply reporting services of AMS in order to encourage competition in the marketplace for wholesale pork products by increasing the amount of information available to participants. This is accomplished through the establishment of a program of information regarding the marketing of wholesale pork products as specifically directed by the 1999 Act, the 2010 Reauthorization Act, and these proposed regulations, as described in detail in the background section. Further, a mandatory wholesale pork reporting program will address concerns relative to the asymmetric availability of market information. Pork processors are not currently required by law to report wholesale pork cut prices. Rather, AMS collects information on daily sales and price information from pork processors on a voluntary basis. The 2008 Farm Bill directed the Secretary to conduct a study to determine advantages, drawbacks, and potential implementation issues associated with adopting mandatory wholesale pork reporting. The study found that wholesale pork price reporting is thin, and results in frequent missing or unreportable price quotes for subprimals.
Friday March 23/, 2012/ Regulations.gov/United States.
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