§1635j Mandatory Reporting for Swine

Summary

Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to create a swine price reporting program that gives timely, accurate market data so people can make better marketing choices and so competition is promoted. Packers must send data to the Secretary, and the Secretary must review the required data at least once every 2 years and can add reporting after public notice and comment. The Secretary cannot force packers to give information they do not normally keep or that would be unduly hard to provide. For packer-owned swine, packers report quantities and carcass traits but not prices. If the law asks for purchase-type info, it must be shown as numbers and percentages for packer-sold swine and for all other swine. For barrows and gilts, a packer’s officers or designated reps must report prior‑day information each business day: by 7:00 a.m. Central Time report all barrows and gilts purchased or priced, and by 9:00 a.m. Central Time report all barrows and gilts slaughtered. The prior‑day data must include purchase counts and scheduled deliveries; base prices and purchase data; slaughter counts and price details such as net price (total paid per 100 pounds including premiums, minus discounts and certain balance adjustments), average net price (total paid divided by total carcass weight in hundred‑pound units), lowest and highest net prices, average carcass weight (adjusted if needed), average sort loss, average backfat, average lean percentage (with underlying data on request), total slaughter quantity, and packer purchase commitments for each of the next 14 calendar days. The Secretary will publish prior‑day purchase data by 8:00 a.m. Central Time and prior‑day slaughter data by 10:00 a.m. Central Time, including price distributions, counts at each price or price bands, and totals and weighted averages for negotiated and negotiated‑formula purchases. Each reporting day packers must also give a morning report by 10:00 a.m. Central Time and an afternoon report by 2:00 p.m. Central Time with estimates of purchases for the day, purchases to date by type, and base prices; the Secretary will publish these by 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., respectively, and will carry any late information into the next day’s reports. For sows and boars, packers must report prior‑day information by 9:30 a.m. Central Time (or another time the Secretary sets), including totals by at least three weight classes, numbers that are packer‑owned, average prices overall and by weight class and by purchase type, and other needed data. Packers must exclude packer‑owned sows and boars from average and range price calculations. Purchases made at public auctions where title transfers directly from producer to packer are not required to be reported. The Secretary will publish this prior‑day sow and boar data by 11:00 a.m. Central Time and will accept electronic submissions. Each packer must also submit a weekly noncarcass merit premium report by 4:00 p.m. Central Time on the first reporting day of each week listing each premium category used in the prior slaughter week and the dollar amount paid per hundred pounds. Packers must keep and provide a current list of those dollar values to producers on request. A packer does not have to pay a listed premium if the need for that category is already filled. The Secretary will publish the weekly premium information by 5:00 p.m. Central Time on that first reporting day.