Two U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs critical to the continuity of livestock market operations will continue during the current federal government shutdown. The Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR) program, managed by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, is the sole source of market information on sales to packers of cattle, swine and lambs and on the subsequent sale of meat products. Inspection services provided by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Services also will continue as an essential activity, ensuring a key element of America’s food supply — safe, nutritious and affordable meat and poultry — are available to consumers.
“NPPC appreciates the leadership provided by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Undersecretary of Marketing and Regulatory Affairs Greg Ibach and Acting Deputy Undersecretary of Food Safety Carmen Rottenberg,” said NPPC President Ken Maschhoff, a pork producer from Carlyle, Illinois. “Inspection and market news reporting are essential to the proper functioning of responsible commerce in the U.S. pork industry during the uncertainty of a federal government shutdown.”
Maschhoff added, “The availability of LMR market data ensures that reliable and accurate information that influence critical business decisions are available to thousands of producers and other market participants, including those in the futures market.”