WASHINGTON (Jan. 28, 2021) – The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) today hailed the introduction of bipartisan legislation to create new opportunities for cattle producers and processors to market beef products.
Introduced by U.S. Representatives Dusty Johnson (R – At-Large, S.D.) and Henry Cuellar (D – 28th Dist., TX), the Direct Interstate Retail Exemption for Certain Transactions (DIRECT) Act of 2021 would allow retail quantities of meat processed under state-inspection to be sold across state lines through e-commerce, providing beef producers and local processors alike with more options to market direct-to-consumers.
“The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted an urgent need for our industry to expand opportunities for state-inspected meatpackers. NCBA acted quickly last year, advocating to allow more beef to be safely sold online across state lines. The DIRECT Act will allow cattle producers and smaller beef processors to more easily evolve to meet the growing demand for e-commerce sales,” said NCBA Policy Division Chair and South Dakota rancher Todd Wilkinson. “Thank you to Representatives Johnson and Cuellar for recognizing the shifts in an ever-changing market and introducing this critical legislation.”