Saying there are significant issues that warrant further review, the USDA delayed until Oct. 19 the implementation of an Obama-era rule that makes it easier for livestock producers to prove unfair treatment at the hands of meat processors. The largest cattle- and hog-producer groups called on the Trump administration to kill the rule outright. Advocates said the new delay was “anti-farmer.”
The “GIPSA rule,” taking its name from USDA’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Agency, says producers need only prove they were treated unfairly by a company to win a legal remedy. That is an easier standard than now in use, which requires proof of harm to the entire market because of an unfair practice.
Farmers who produce food animals under a contract, particularly poultry producers, say the rule would level the playing field with processors. The National Pork Producers Council and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association say the GIPSA rule will up-end the current marketing system, which include marketing arrangements that offer bonuses for meeting specific goals, such as cattle with high-grading meat, and generate lawsuits.
“Ultimately this rule should be killed and American cattle producers should be free to market our beef without the threat of government-sanctioned frivolous lawsuits,” said NCBA president Craig Uden. Pork Council president Ken Maschhoff thanked the Trump administration for “following through on its pledge to look at regulations that would negatively affect people and the economy. Now, we need to withdraw this bad regulation.” Otherwise, said Maschhoff, every contract dispute would become a federal lawsuit with the threat of triple damages.
The Trump administration included the GIPSA rule in its 60-day regulatory freeze when it took office, delaying the effective date of the rule to April 22 from the original Feb 21. As part of the new, six-month delay, the USDA announced it would accept comments for 60 days on four options – letting the rule take effect, suspending it indefinitely, delaying the rule to a later date, or withdrawing it.
“Make no mistake, the delay in implementation of this important rule is anti-farmer,” said Ferd Hoefner of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, a small-farmer advocate. Like the livestock groups who want to eliminate the rule, Hoefner said Trump’s populist campaign themes call for implementation of the rule. “We hope and expect that when Sonny Perdue is confirmed as the next Secretary of Agriculture he and President Trump will support farmers and finalize the rule,” he said.
The largest U.S. farm group, the American Farm Bureau Federation, said it wanted to preserve “the contract and marketing arrangements that are working for the beef and pork sectors…There is still vast room for improvement, however, in efforts to ensure a level playing field for poultry farmers.” The AFBF said poultry farmers need additional safeguards from discriminatory treatment.
To read the Federal Register notice, which is to be published today, click here.