Today U.S. Representatives Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), Frank Lucas (R-OK), and Liz Cheney (R-WY), introduced the Livestock Risk Management and Education Act, a bill that would provide grants to certain state land-grant universities to better equip livestock producers with risk management training.
The Livestock Risk Management and Education Act would authorize the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to provide resources to improve livestock producers’ knowledge of futures markets to better manage market volatility. An understanding of futures contracts and risk management strategies will allow producers both large and small to better anticipate cattle prices. This new authority would allow land-grant universities to partner with grower associations to more directly reach producers.
“While we’ve seen tremendous signs of a strong economy- witnessing record declines in unemployment and rising wages across America- sadly, our nation’s farm industry continues to face challenging times, leaving our producers vulnerable to disruptions provoked by market instability and other factors,” said Rep. Frank Lucas. “Livestock producers across the country have faced years of uncertainty and, like others, need every tool within their belt to manage risk and sharpen their ability to weather the market’s uncertainty. I’m proud to join Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) as a cosponsor of the Livestock Risk Management and Education Act, ensuring that our livestock producers have the resources they need to better utilize risk management strategies as they overcome market volatility. Our producers rise to the challenge day in and day out and the Livestock Risk Management and Education Act would help provide stability for those that feed billions across the globe.”
