How the price of cattle should be determined is likely to be a contentious issue when delegates to the American Farm Bureau Federation convention debate the organization’s policy positions today and Thursday, a Farm Bureau economist said Tuesday.

Cattle producers are upset that this past year, when consumer beef prices rose, cattle prices fell at the same time. But they are divided over how to address the situation.

There are proposals to require buyers to purchase a percentage of cattle on the cash market, but not all producers agree that such a mandate would be a good idea.

“Price discovery – this is a pretty contentious issue,” Michael Nepveux, a Farm Bureau economist, said at a virtual briefing during the convention Tuesday.

“It is pretty evenly split. We will see how the delegate session ends up,” Nepveux said.

Farm Bureau delegates are having virtual regional meetings today and a general delegate session Thursday.

In the fiscal year 2021 omnibus appropriations bill, Congress extended the livestock mandatory price reporting program for only one year, until Sept. 30, 2021, and is under pressure to address the issue this year.