Secretary Vilsack announced that the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) will publish a proposed rule "that would provide new protections for producers against unfair, fraudulent, or retaliatory practices." The proposed rule will be published on June 22, 2010.
The proposed rules were required by the 2008 Farm Bill to improve fairness in the livestock and poultry industries. "Many of the concerns in the rule were raised during the dozens of Administration Rural Tour stops attended by Secretary Vilsack last year and the joint USDA-Department of Justice Competition Workshops held this year." Some of the concerned voiced at the meetings "were related to increasing consolidation and vertical integration in the livestock and poultry marketplace, and shrinking farm numbers."
Some of the protections in the proposed rule will include definitions of practices that are unfair, unjustly discriminatory, or deceptive, retaliatory, fraudulent or misleading representations, and undue or unreasonable preferences or advantages. The rule will include "new protections for producers required to provide expensive capital upgrades to their growing facilities, including protections to ensure producers have the opportunity to recoup 80 percent of the cost of a required capital investment." The rule will also prohibit packers from purchasing or receiving livestock from other packers. In addition, the rule will state the USDA's position that producers do not need to prove "harm to competition" when they have suffered violations of the Packers and Stockyards Act.
Secretary Vilsack, in an interview with the Associated Press, stated that "it's fair to say what we're proposing is aggressive. The reality is, the Packers and Stockyards Act has not kept pace with the marketplace ... Our job is to make sure the playing field is level for producers."
The proposed rule will be open for comment until August 23, 2010.
To read the USDA Press Release, click here.
To read the AP story, click here.
Posted: 06/21/2010
