U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman David Scott (D-GA) announced Thursday he intends to introduce legislation aimed at helping smaller beef farmers and ranchers.
Scott said help for those smaller producers “has been missing” but it is one of his top priorities.
“My bill will apply to small family farmers and ranchers. According to USDA, the average beef cattle herd is 44 head, and operations of 100 or fewer beef cattle account for 90 percent of all farms and 44 percent of the beef cattle inventory,” Scott said. “Yet, we are losing an average of 17,000 cattle ranchers per year. This is a national crisis.”
While the announcement did not provide many details, Scott said the bill would create a new program that “strengthens the Federal safety et and makes insurance products work better for small cattle farmers and ranchers, both in terms of coverage and accessibility.”
The congressman also wants to establish a grant program at USDA to help small farmers and ranchers and producer-owned cooperatives to undertake innovative business initiatives.
“By developing more direct-to-consumer and direct-to-institution markets, my legislation will give small farmers and ranchers more control over where they sell their cattle or meat products and provide them with opportunities to add value to their products and increase their profitability,” Scott said.
