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Meatpacker ban rejectedWASHINGTON (AP)--Farm bill negotiators have rejected an attempt to prevent meatpackers from owning cattle more than two weeks before slaughter, a disappointment for ranchers in the Midwest and northern plains who have been pushing for the ban for many years. Many other parts of the massive bill--including increased subsidies for some crops, country of origin labeling for meats and a permanent farm disaster program--are favorable for the farm belt, however. Negotiators are still finalizing details of the five year, almost $300 billion bill, and the White House has signaled that President Bush may veto it. But many of the details are set, and farm groups would get much of what they asked for. "The Senate-House conference committee on the farm bill is now in the final stages of a strong, bipartisan bill that that will bring new funding and better policy in core farm bill initiatives _ conservation, energy, nutrition and rural development--while continuing and strengthening farm income protection," Senate Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin, D-IA, said May 9. Harkin and other negotiators worked out many of the final details of the bill in a seven-hour conference May 8 and 9. Lawmakers participating in that meeting rejected the meatpacker ban after Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican, offered an amendment to keep the provision in the bill. Ranchers advocating the change want to ban meatpackers from owning or contracting for cattle more than a week or two before slaughter so large companies can't have control over the cattle for a long period of time and would be forced to pay current market prices for meat. Supporters of the reform say meatpackers can manipulate the prices they pay for cattle with "captive supplies," or stock they own or control through contracts and marketing agreements. They argue that such control lets meatpackers time their purchases, allowing them to save money but also depress prices. Large meatpacking companies say they should be to buy cattle whenever they want to. "We are up against entrenched power, we're up against big money," North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad, a Democrat, said of the years-long effort to ban the practice. The bill does include other priorities for ranchers in the West and Midwest, including language that would require country-of-origin labels on meats and other foods. Northern ranchers have long pushed for such a law, which would help them compete against Canadian ranchers and give consumers more information about where their food is coming from. 5/12/08 Date: 5/6/08
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