WASHINGTON, April 27: In creating a new six-year US farm bill, lawmakers tentatively adopted mandatory country-of-origin labels for meats, fish and produce, but nixed a controversial proposal to ban meatpackers from owning hogs and cattle, industry officials said on Friday.

Senate and House farm bill negotiators were to meet late Friday to complete details of a new farm subsidy law that boosts crop subsidies by $4.8 billion a year.

Livestock industry officials, who have seen parts of the bill, said lawmakers agreed to create a system of voluntary country-of-origin labels on food that would become mandatory after two years.

The labels will inform consumers where meat, produce, fish and peanuts originated. Meat products would be stamped US-made only if the farm animals were born, raised and slaughtered in the United States.

The National Farmers Union and other supporters of mandatory labels said they would give US ranchers an advantage in a competitive meat market.

American Meat Institute President Patrick Boyle said the group was “extremely disappointed” the labeling provision was included in the final farm bill.

The meat group estimated the labels would cost livestock producers and food companies nearly $1 billion per year, and may violate international trade agreements.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said it supported voluntary labels. At the end of the day, mandatory labels might cause more problems than they solve, said Chandler Keys, vice president of the cattle group.

Meanwhile, the tentative farm bill dropped another controversial proposal to bar US meatpackers from owning cattle and hogs more than 14 days before slaughter, industry officials said.

Proponents said a ban would give family farmers a better chance of getting a fair price and reduce the economic leverage of large packers. Critics contend the proposal would disrupt innovative market arrangements that reward farmers and ranchers for raising animals with higher-quality meat.

The Democratic-led Senate approved the ban several months ago, but the Republican-controlled House’s version of a farm bill did not include a ban on meatpacker ownership of livestock.

US meatpackers were estimated to own eight per cent of slaughter cattle and 18 per cent of hogs.

When contracts for sale or marketing arrangements are counted, four companies — ConAgra Foods Inc , Tyson Foods Inc, farmer cooperative Farmland Industries and privately owned Cargill Inc control about one-third of US cattle slaughtered, according to a US Agriculture Department study.—Reuters