The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will delay implementation of a controversial rule in the meat and livestock sector and give the new administration more time to review it.
The Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration will delay implementation of the Farmer Fair Practices Rules for 180 days, according to a USDA release. That would bump the effective date back from April 22 to Oct. 19.
The rule, originally finalized by the Obama administration in December 2016, was intended to level the playing field between contract growers and the companies with which they work.
“The extension allows ample time for stakeholders to review the effects of the Scope Interim Final Rule on their operations, and ensures maximum opportunity for dialogue across every segment of the livestock, meat and poultry industries,” GIPSA Acting Administrator Randall Jones said in a statement.
American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) President Zippy Duvall also expressed support of the delay.
“It is clear that a one-size-fits-all approach to the Agriculture Department’s Farmer Fair Practices Rules does not work across the board for all livestock sectors,” Duvall said in a statement. “We support preserving the contract and marketing arrangements that are working for the beef and pork sectors, and we will reinforce that point during the comment period.”
Late last year, AFBF supported the interim final rule, but changed their position after additional review.
Duvall noted AFBF will “continue to emphasize the need to seek additional safeguards in the poultry sector to better protect individual farmers from discriminatory treatment, without disrupting the business practices that are working in the beef and pork sectors.”
Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), who has opposed the GIPSA rule since 2010, applauded the USDA for extending the effective date.
“This extension will allow for the incoming Secretary of Agriculture to fully analyze the effects of the rule and consider the recently submitted public comments,” Roberts said in a release. “I hope the Trump Administration’s USDA will finally heed the concerns of farmers and ranchers and the Congress to get rid of this unneeded and unwanted rule.”
Details are published in the Federal Register.
In addition to delaying the effective date, GIPSA will also ask the public to comment on four possible actions USDA should take in regard to the disposition of the Interim Final Rule. The comment due date is June 12.
For more information on GIPSA, visit https://www.gipsa.usda.gov/.