More details were announced at a House Ag Committee hearing last week regarding Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack’s announcement of more than $750 million in USDA assistance to expand meat processing capacity. The details involved proposed solutions for complications facing the beef market including limited processing capacity and a lack of price transparency. One such detail, the Livestock Mandatory (Price) Reporting Act is expected to be in effect for another full year. Vilsack said he’s going through more than 500 comments on how to spend the $500 million USDA allocated to help expand processing capacity, a goal that has been a priority for the department since before the pandemic. He said emphasis will be placed on small processors in an effort to increase capacity, however, several committee members shared concerns over eventual consolidation for these small plants. Read more on cattle market processing and pricing issues and what House Ag Committee members are saying about them.