USDA publishes summaries of livestock prices for shutdown period

Posted Oct. 28, 2013

USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service now has summaries of price and marketing data available for various commodities, including pork, for the period this month that the federal government was on partial shutdown.

The shutdown prompted USDA to suspend from Oct. 1 through Oct. 16 publication of its Market News reports, which for livestock are required under the Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting Act. The reports help producers, processors, consumers and distributors in the sale and purchase of agricultural commodities, “providing current and unbiased, price and sales information to assist in [their] orderly marketing and distribution.”