The 2002 Senate Farm Bill: The Ban on Packer Ownership of Livestock

On December 13, 2001, the United States Senate approved an amendment to the Senate Farm Bill making it unlawful for a packer to own, feed, or control livestock intended for slaughter more than fourteen days prior to slaughter. 1 The amendment includes exemptions for packing houses owned by farmer cooperatives, and packers with less than two percent of national slaughter. The amendment was approved 51-46, and became part of the Senate Farm Bill.2 In early 2002, the amendment language was clarified to prohibit arrangements that give packers ―operational, managerial, or supervisory control over the livestock, or over the farming operation that produces the livestock, to such an extent that the producer is no longer materially participating in the management of the operation with respect to the production of the livestock.‖3 The new language was approved 53-46 on February 12, 2002, but did not survive the House/Senate Conference Committee on the Farm Bill.4 More recently, two bills were introduced in the House containing language comparable to the Senate version.