Pork producers laud price reporting feature of Ag Bill

Pork producers are hailing a section in the emergency farm aid package whichcalls for public disclosure of all hog sales, not just those done atauction. Presently, the prices meatpackers pay for hogs raised under aprivate contract are NOT publicly disclosed. National Pork ProducersCouncil Vice President Barb Determan of Early, Iowa, has been in Washington,D.C., lobbying for the mandatory price disclosure.Determan says under the legislation, packers will be required to disclose –once in the morning and once in the afternoon — the prices they’re paying.The U-S House Ag Committee had been considering mandatory price disclosure,but Determan says action in that committee was taking too long.The mandatory price reporting proposal is included in the nearlynine-Billion dollar farm aid package which is expected to win Congressionalapproval sometime this week.