In line with the regulatory freeze announced when President Trump took office, the USDA said it was delaying for 60 days, until April 22, the implementation of a new fair-play rule that makes it easier for livestock producers to prove unfair treatment at the hands of packers and processors. The largest cattle, hog and broiler chicken groups say the rule, issued in mid-December after being blocked for years by Congress, is the Obama administration’s revenge on farmers for voting for Trump.
The National Pork Producers Council, for example, asks on its website for hog farmers to “Please click the repeal button” to send a message to the White House “to reverse this outrageous regulation.” Small-farmer groups say the rule will level the playing field for operators, especially farmers who grow poultry under contract with processors. Both sides claim the populist language that attracted rural voters to Trump.
Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union, said family farmers have endured “heavily concentrated markets and the unfair practices associated with lack of competition” for years. “We recognize that the administration wishes to review all rules that are in the process of being implemented, and we urge the administration to expeditiously complete that review process and to implement these rules as quickly as possible.”
The “GIPSA rule,” taking its name from USDA’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration, says producers need only prove they were treated unfairly by a company to win a legal remedy. That is a much easier standard than the one currently is use, which requires proof that harm was done to the entire market because of an unfair practice.
It was issued as an interim final rule with a 60-day comment period ending on Feb. 21. The Trump administration told agencies to delay implementation of regulations while its team settled into place.
“The effective date for the interim final rule is delayed to April 22,” said USDA. The interim rule and two complementary proposed rules — one to clarify what practices USDA views as violations of livestock marketing rules and another to reform the “tournament” system used by processors in deciding pay for the farmers who grow their birds — will appear in the Federal Register today, said USDA, with comment periods running to March 24.
Foes in the livestock industry say the rules will up-end the marketing system and generate lawsuits. A key concern is whether the rules will interfere with contracts or marketing agreements that offer bonuses for meeting specific goals, such as delivering cattle that yield high-grading meat or raising chickens without the use of antibiotics. The outgoing agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, said the rules would not preclude alternative marketing arrangements.
A handful of meat processors dominate the beef and broiler chicken industry. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition says the companies have outsized control over the market and with lawmakers.
To read the Obama administration’s explanation of the rules and its fact sheet on them, click here.