An ag economist says reliable reporting of market data is critical to price discovery and transparency in the cattle markets.
University of Kentucky’s Kenny Burdine says a cattle contract library would serve as a catalog of prices and spell out details of the contracts.
“In most cases, that means what market the formulas are based on and then the other specifications of the contract,” he says. “Which might include any premiums, delivery, or in some cases there may be provisions that deal with changes in feed costs.” Burdine says it could be modeled after the contract library that is currently used in the hog market.
