Farm groups sue USDA in hopes of reviving GIPSA rule

In one of USDA’s biggest decisions in the Trump era, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue killed the so-called GIPSA rule on fair play in livestock marketing. Two months later, the farm group Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) filed suit in the U.S. appeals court in St. Louis for reinstatement of the rule, issued in the closing weeks of the Obama administration.

OCM executive director Joe Maxwell said the administration was giving “large multinational corporations the upper hand … so we are seeking justice through the courts.” The lawsuit was filed in the form of a petition for review by the appeals court of the USDA’s basis for withdrawing the GIPSA rule, which eased the burden on producers to show discriminatory actions by a meat processor.

in a statement, the OCM said withdrawal of the rule leaves small producers vulnerable to the demands of processors. Without the GIPSA rule, named for the agency, the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration, that drafted it, producers must show a practice by a processor harmed the entire industry. The largest U.S. cattle and hog groups opposed the rule.

To read the lawsuit, click here.

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