Re-authorize the Mandatory Price Reporting (MPR) provisions for a period of five years. This was the request made to the House Agriculture Committee in a letter sent late last week. Joining the American Sheep Industry Association (ASI) as signators to the letter were: the National Pork Producers Council, the National Cattlemens Beef Association, the American Farm Bureau Federation and the American Meat Institute.

The 1999 Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act requires packers to report, among other things, livestock purchase prices to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agriculture Marketing Service. A transparent, accurate and timely market price-reporting system is necessary for producers and processors to be able to make informed business decisions.

Last year, Congress extended MPR until Sept. 30, 2005.

The sheep industry needs Congress to re-authorize the MPR since all the details of sheep reporting are determined by rule making and we have been diligent in updating the program regularly, commented Peter Orwick, ASI executive director. In fact, importers are now required to provide wholesale lamb-cut prices in the United States, but will only continue if MPR is re-authorized. Companies had to voluntarily provide the information for several weeks in 2004 during a lapse in the authorization, so a five-year program is very important for continuity in sheep market reporting in this country, added Orwick.

Date: 5/26/05

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