Johanns Responds to Recommendations for Livestock Mandatory Reporting

December 1, 2006 - On Nov. 27, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns issued a response to a previous letter sent by the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, which outlined the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendations on Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR). The GAO provided six recommendations for LMR:

- state instructions and influences from Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) reporters on its reported prices and make audit results available,

- clarify reporters' instructions to become more specific and consistent,

- audit packers' transactions to get information about the accuracy of their data,

- develop audit strategies to identify recurring and significant issues,

- address reporters' efforts to follow up on audit findings, and

- further investigate the reporting practices of a packer's low-price purchase of cattle.

According to Johanns, AMS generally agreed with these recommendations. The agency has already implemented several of them and has created a timeline to adopt many others.

Johanns' full response is available on request.

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