II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2792 

To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to require the Secretary 

of Agriculture to procure a minimum amount of meat and poultry products from small meat processors and to develop a digital livestock exchange platform, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023 

Mr. FETTERMAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to require 

the Secretary of Agriculture to procure a minimum 

amount of meat and poultry products from small meat 

processors and to develop a digital livestock exchange 

platform, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening Local 

5 Meat Economies Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROCUREMENT OF MEAT AND POULTRY. 

2 Subtitle A of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 

3 (7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 210B. PROCUREMENT OF MEAT AND POULTRY. 

6 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 ‘‘(1) DIGITAL LIVESTOCK EXCHANGE PLAT8 FORM.—The term ‘digital livestock exchange plat9 form’ has the meaning given the term in section 

10 210C(a). 

11 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE PROCESSOR.—The term ‘eligible 

12 processor’ means a livestock or poultry processor 

13 that— 

14 ‘‘(A) is engaged in the slaughter of live15 stock or poultry; 

16 ‘‘(B)(i) employs fewer than 150 full-time 

17 employees; or 

18 ‘‘(ii) processes less than 1,000,000 total 

19 pounds of meat food product and poultry prod20 uct per month; 

21 ‘‘(C) is not owned or in partnership with 

22 any entity that— 

23 ‘‘(i) employs 150 or more full-time 

24 employees; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) processes 1,000,000 total pounds 

2 or more of meat food product and poultry 

3 product per month; and 

4 ‘‘(D) is not owned or in partnership with 

5 any foreign entity. 

6 ‘‘(3) LIVESTOCK.—The term ‘livestock’ means 

7 cattle, sheep, swine, and goats, whether alive or 

8 dead. 

9 ‘‘(4) MEAT FOOD PRODUCTS.—The term ‘meat 

10 food products’ has the meaning given the term in 

11 section 2(a) of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 

12 1921 (7 U.S.C. 182). 

13 ‘‘(5) POULTRY.—The term ‘poultry’ has the 

14 meaning given the term in section 4 of the Poultry 

15 Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 453). 

16 ‘‘(6) POULTRY PRODUCT.—The term ‘poultry 

17 product’ has the meaning given the term in section 

18 4 of the Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 

19 453). 

20 ‘‘(7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

21 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

22 ‘‘(b) PROCUREMENT REQUIREMENTS.—In procuring 

23 meat food products and poultry products for the Depart24 ment of Agriculture, the Secretary— 


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1 ‘‘(1) shall increase procurement of meat food 

2 products and poultry products from eligible proc3 essors— 

4 ‘‘(A) in the first fiscal year that begins on 

5 or after the date that is 1 year after the date 

6 of enactment of this section, by an amount that 

7 is the greater of— 

8 ‘‘(i) $50,000,000; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) 50 percent of the amount spent 

10 in the previous fiscal year for that procure11 ment; and 

12 ‘‘(B) in the first fiscal year following the 

13 fiscal year described in subparagraph (A), by 

14 an amount that is the greater of— 

15 ‘‘(i) $100,000,000; and 

16 ‘‘(ii) 75 percent of the amount spent 

17 in the previous fiscal year for that procure18 ment; 

19 ‘‘(2) shall, in each fiscal year following the fis20 cal year described in paragraph (1)(B), procure not 

21 less than 20 percent of meat food products and poul22 try products from eligible processors; 

23 ‘‘(3) shall establish procurement contracts for 

24 the procurement increases under paragraphs (1) and 

25 (2) through a digital livestock exchange platform; 


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1 ‘‘(4) notwithstanding any other provision of 

2 law, shall not accept the lowest possible bid on a 

3 meat food products or poultry products procurement 

4 contract if that acceptance would result in prices 

5 that would not be commercially viable for eligible 

6 processors, as determined by the Secretary in con7 sultation with the advisory board established under 

8 section 210C(g) and using the data described in sec9 tion 210C(d)(4); 

10 ‘‘(5) shall post competitive or sole source con11 tracts exclusively to eligible processors through a 

12 digital livestock exchange platform; 

13 ‘‘(6) shall determine fair market price for meat 

14 food products and poultry products processed by eli15 gible processors (taking into account product at16 tributes such as organic, regenerative, and high-wel17 fare) through the price reporting expertise of the 

18 Secretary; and 

19 ‘‘(7) shall prioritize procurement from— 

20 ‘‘(A) enterprises owned by beginning farm21 ers or ranchers, socially disadvantaged farmers 

22 or ranchers, or veteran farmers or ranchers (as 

23 those terms are defined in section 2501(a) of 

24 the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade 

25 Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 2279(a))); 


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1 ‘‘(B) enterprises that— 

2 ‘‘(i) source at least 51 percent of their 

3 livestock, poultry, meat food products, or 

4 poultry products from producers or proc5 essors within a 250-mile radius; 

6 ‘‘(ii) exclusively sell meat food prod7 ucts or poultry products with a label of the 

8 Department of Agriculture designating the 

9 product as a product of the United States, 

10 if such label exists; or 

11 ‘‘(iii) purchase at least 51 percent of 

12 their livestock, poultry, meat food prod13 ucts, or poultry products to fulfill Federal 

14 procurement contracts through a digital 

15 livestock exchange platform; and 

16 ‘‘(C) enterprises with labor agreements. 

17 ‘‘(c) INTERAGENCY ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 

18 shall assist other Federal agencies seeking to procure meat 

19 food products and poultry products by— 

20 ‘‘(1) sharing information about the 1 or more 

21 digital livestock exchange platforms; 

22 ‘‘(2) offering technical assistance on how to uti23 lize a digital livestock exchange platform; and 


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1 ‘‘(3) facilitating through a digital livestock ex2 change platform procurement contract opportunities 

3 with eligible processors. 

4 ‘‘(d) OFFSET.—Of amounts available to the Sec5 retary for procurement in a fiscal year, the Secretary shall 

6 use not less than $35,000,000 to carry out procurement 

7 in accordance with this section. 

8 ‘‘(e) OUTREACH.—The Secretary shall conduct out9 reach, and provide technical assistance, to eligible proc10 essors and producers of meat food products and poultry 

11 products seeking procurement contracts with the Federal 

12 Government. 

13 ‘‘(f) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

14 of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall submit 

15 to Congress a report that— 

16 ‘‘(1) describes all procurement of meat food 

17 products and poultry products by the Department of 

18 Agriculture during the preceding 5 years, includ19 ing— 

20 ‘‘(A) the companies that those products 

21 were sourced from; and 

22 ‘‘(B) by disaggregating information by cat23 egories of slaughter volume and processed vol24 ume; and 


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1 ‘‘(2)(A) analyzes barriers to eligible processors 

2 engaging in procurement contracts with the Depart3 ment of Agriculture; and 

4 ‘‘(B) makes recommendations on how to remove 

5 those barriers.’’. 

6 SEC. 3. DIGITAL LIVESTOCK EXCHANGE PLATFORM. 

7 Subtitle A of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 

8 (7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.) (as amended by section 2) is 

9 amended by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 210C. DIGITAL LIVESTOCK EXCHANGE PLATFORM. 

11 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

12 ‘‘(1) DIGITAL LIVESTOCK EXCHANGE PLAT13 FORM.—The term ‘digital livestock exchange plat14 form’ means a digital application or website that ful15 fills the purposes and activities described in sub16 section (d). 

17 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE PROCESSOR.—The term ‘eligible 

18 processor’ has the meaning given the term in section 

19 210B(a). 

20 ‘‘(3) FORMULA PRICE.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘formula 

22 price’ means any price term that establishes a 

23 base from which a purchase price is calculated 

24 on the basis of a price that will not be deterVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:25 Sep 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2792.IS S2792

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1 mined or reported until a date that is after the 

2 date on which the forward price is established. 

3 ‘‘(B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘formula 

4 price’ does not include— 

5 ‘‘(i) any price term that establishes a 

6 base from which a purchase price is cal7 culated on the basis of a futures market 

8 price; or 

9 ‘‘(ii) any adjustment to the base for 

10 quality, grade, or other factors relating to 

11 the value of livestock that are readily 

12 verifiable market factors and are outside 

13 the control of the packer. 

14 ‘‘(4) FORWARD CONTRACT.—The term ‘forward 

15 contract’ means an oral or written contract for the 

16 purchase of livestock that provides for the delivery 

17 of the livestock to a packer at a date that is more 

18 than 7 days after the date on which the contract is 

19 entered into, without regard to whether the contract 

20 is for— 

21 ‘‘(A) a specified lot of livestock; or 

22 ‘‘(B) a specified number of livestock over a 

23 certain period of time. 


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1 ‘‘(5) LIVESTOCK.—The term ‘livestock’ means 

2 cattle, sheep, swine, and goats, whether alive or 

3 dead. 

4 ‘‘(6) MEAT FOOD PRODUCTS.—The term ‘meat 

5 food products’ has the meaning given the term in 

6 section 2(a) of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 

7 1921 (7 U.S.C. 182). 

8 ‘‘(7) POULTRY.—The term ‘poultry’ has the 

9 meaning given the term in section 4 of the Poultry 

10 Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 453). 

11 ‘‘(8) POULTRY PRODUCT.—The term ‘poultry 

12 product’ has the meaning given the term in section 

13 4 of the Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 

14 453). 

15 ‘‘(9) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

16 the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Ad17 ministrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service. 

18 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall enter 

19 into cooperative agreements with entities (including pri20 vate entities, nonprofit organizations, and small busi21 nesses) to develop, as determined by the Secretary— 

22 ‘‘(1) a single digital livestock exchange plat23 form; or 

24 ‘‘(2) multiple digital livestock exchange plat25 forms by region. 


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1 ‘‘(c) STATUS AS MARKET AGENCY.—A digital live2 stock exchange platform shall be a market agency (as de3 fined in section 301 of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 

4 1921 (7 U.S.C. 201), except that livestock in paragraph 

5 (1) of that section shall include poultry) for purposes of 

6 that Act. 

7 ‘‘(d) PURPOSES AND ACTIVITIES OF PLATFORM.—A 

8 digital livestock exchange platform shall— 

9 ‘‘(1) facilitate open access to online cash trans10 fer and open bidding on forward contracts and pro11 curement contracts between— 

12 ‘‘(A) livestock and poultry producers; 

13 ‘‘(B) livestock and poultry producers and 

14 eligible processors; 

15 ‘‘(C) livestock and poultry producers or eli16 gible processors and institutional, private sec17 tor, and government buyers; and 

18 ‘‘(D) distributors of meat food products 

19 and poultry products to institutional, private 

20 sector, and government buyers; 

21 ‘‘(2) facilitate ease of access to— 

22 ‘‘(A) Federal procurement opportunities 

23 for eligible processors and producers of meat 

24 food products and poultry products; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) subcontracting opportunities by pri2 vate entities fulfilling Federal meat food prod3 ucts and poultry products procurement con4 tracts; 

5 ‘‘(3) facilitate connection between producers 

6 and eligible processors offering copacking services, 

7 so that producers may fulfill governmental, retail, 

8 restaurant, or institutional contracts directly; 

9 ‘‘(4) facilitate reporting by the Secretary of re10 gional agricultural prices while ensuring data privacy 

11 and data ownership for individual digital livestock 

12 exchange platform participants; 

13 ‘‘(5) provide open-source access for producers 

14 to a tool that allows producers to enhance the 

15 traceability of their product attributes; 

16 ‘‘(6) aim to prevent manipulation within mar17 kets subject to the Packers and Stockyards Act, 

18 1921 (7 U.S.C. 191 et seq.), and transactions across 

19 the livestock and poultry industry; and 

20 ‘‘(7) test the value of new forms of technology, 

21 including distributed ledger and smart contract tech22 nologies, in livestock and poultry market platforms 

23 and supply chains, to accomplish the objectives de24 scribed in paragraphs (1) through (6). 

25 ‘‘(e) COMPLIANT FORWARD CONTRACTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In effectuating any sale of 

2 livestock on a digital livestock exchange platform, it 

3 shall be unlawful to use a forward contract that— 

4 ‘‘(A) does not contain a firm base price 

5 that may be equated to a fixed dollar amount 

6 on the date on which the forward contract is 

7 entered into; 

8 ‘‘(B) is not offered for bid in an open, pub9 lic manner under which— 

10 ‘‘(i) buyers and sellers have the oppor11 tunity to participate in the bid; 

12 ‘‘(ii) more than 1 blind bid is solic13 ited; and 

14 ‘‘(iii) buyers and sellers may witness 

15 bids that are made and accepted; 

16 ‘‘(C) is based on a formula price; or 

17 ‘‘(D) provides for the sale of livestock in a 

18 quantity in excess of 50 animals. 

19 ‘‘(2) PENALTIES.—Any participant that violates 

20 paragraph (1) shall— 

21 ‘‘(A) be barred from participation in a dig22 ital livestock exchange platform or for consider23 ation for any Federal meat food product or 

24 poultry product procurement contract; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) forfeit any existing Federal meat food 

2 product or poultry product procurement con3 tract for the 5-year period following the viola4 tion. 

5 ‘‘(f) PROHIBITED PARTICIPATION.— 

6 ‘‘(1) DAILY HARVEST VOLUME.—A meatpacker 

7 that has a daily harvest volume that is more than 

8 5 percent of the national daily harvest volume may 

9 not participate in a digital livestock exchange plat10 form, including by posting subcontracting opportuni11 ties on the digital livestock exchange platform. 

12 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE PROCESSORS.—A meatpacker 

13 that is not an eligible processor may not participate 

14 in a digital livestock exchange platform, including by 

15 posting subcontracting opportunities on the digital 

16 livestock exchange platform. 

17 ‘‘(g) OUTREACH.—The Secretary shall conduct out18 reach through extension services regarding the availability 

19 and use of a digital livestock exchange platform. 

20 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

21 is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

22 out subsection (b) $2,000,000, to remain available until 

23 expended.’’. 

Æ 


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