Swine Contract Library 

(SCL)

Overview

Swine Contract Library Information | Agricultural Marketing Service (usda.gov)
Background

 Enabling Legislation: Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting Act 

of 1999, subsequent renewal legislation. 

 Congress intended for the SCL to aid in price discovery

 SCL First published in August 2003
Who provides swine contract 

information?

 Approximately 83 packers and 61 plants

 Packers purchasing at least 200,000 and also slaughtered at least 200,000

 Swine Contracts

 Purchase at least 100,000 head of swine per year and slaughter the swine 

at a federally inspected swine processing plant at which you:

 Slaughtered an average of at least 100,000 head of swine per year; or

 Have the capacity to slaughter at least 100,000 swine per year, based on plant 

capacity information.
What information from the SCL is 

available to the public?

 Published on the SCL Web Site

 https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/packers-and-stockyardsact/regulated-entities/swine-contract-library

 Contract Summary reports

 Monthly reports
The SCL has five reporting regions

 Iowa/Minnesota 

 Eastern Cornbelt

 Western Cornbelt 

 Western United States

 National
Release of Information / Confidentiality

 Section 222(C) of the Act (7 U.S.C 198 a(c)) addresses 

confidentiality. 

 “The reporting requirements under subsections (a) and (b) shall be subject 

to the confidentiality protections provided under section 251 of the 

Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 [7 U.S.C. 1636]”

 (a)CONFIDENTIALITY The Secretary shall make available to the public 

information, statistics, and documents obtained from, or submitted by, packers, 

retail entities, and other persons under this subchapter in a manner that 

ensures that confidentiality is preserved regarding—

 (1) the identity of persons, including parties to a contract; and

 (2) proprietary business information.
Monthly Report Submission

 Monthly Reports provide packers’ estimated swine purchases 

under marketing contracts for the next 6 and 12 months.

 The SCL reports are organized and released by contract type 

and region. There are three contract types

 Swine or pork market formula

 Other Market formula

 Other purchase arrangement
What existing or available contracts 

are provided?

 Subject Packers must provide an example of each contract

 available at each plant that you operate, or

 available at each plant where you have swine slaughtered.

 Criteria for distinguishing example contracts

 Base price determination

 Application of ledger or accrual account

 Carcass merit premium or discount schedule

 Use of non-carcass merit premiums or discounts.
How does information from the SCL 

help producers?

 Producers use the library to investigate what contract terms packers offer.

 A producer could identify contract provisions of interest.

 A producer could use that knowledge to negotiate what may result in a 

more favorable contract with a packer.
What the SCL Doesn’t Do

 Publish full verbatim contracts, whether redacted or unredacted.

 “Other Provisions” are not necessarily verbatim. Rather, any terms or 

wording that potentially identifies a party to the contract are replaced with 

more generic terms.

 Publish volume information associated with each contract, price formula, or 

contract terms.
Swine Contract Library 

(SCL)

Thank you!

Swine Contract Library Information | Agricultural Marketing Service (usda.gov)