The National Pork Producers Council has applauded the U.S. Senate for reauthorizing the law requiring meat packers to report the prices they pay producers for animals.

Senators unanimously approved a five-year reauthorization of the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999. The House of Representatives passed an identical bill last September. The law expired Sept. 30, 2005.

“Pork producers are extremely grateful to the Senate for taking action on this important legislation,” says NPPC President Joy Philippi, a Bruning, NE, pork producer. “The mandatory price reporting law is an important tool that helps producers make business and production decisions.”

The legislation includes three enhancements to the price reporting provisions:

• Adding more sows to the pricing reports to more accurately reflect the sales and prices paid in the sow market.

• Changing the timing for data reporting to help the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) ease its workload to help increase report accuracy and efficiency.

• Allowing USDA to publish price distributions for net prices to provide more useful information, while still maintaining the current confidentiality requirements.