The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on Tuesday it will withdraw the controversial livestock portion of the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rule.
The rules, often called the Farmer Fair Practices Rules, would have eliminated the need to prove competitive injury to file a lawsuit under the Packers and Stockyards Act. It would have disrupted key marketing arrangements in livestock sectors.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue told reporters he still values fair marketing practices, but he didn’t believe the rule was the best way to accomplish that.
“I want to assure you the USDA and GIPSA remain committed to fair trade practices, financial integrity and fair trade markets,” Perdue said. “The concern was that this rule as proposed would lead to unnecessary and unproductive litigation in many ways. We believe the initial Packers and Stockyards Act indicated that it should be helping in facilitating competition, not necessarily one-on-one litigation.”
Perdue said the rule had the potential for harming the very people that it was intended to protect.
USDA will continue to work on poultry fair practice issues in future rulemaking.
The move is being welcomed by many in agriculture and applauded by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF)—the largest farm organization in the U.S.
AFBF President Zippy Duvall said this action is good news for farmers and ranchers and thanked Perdue for his efforts on these rules.
“As to the Unfair and Undue Preferences rule, we encourage the agency to continue to work toward solutions that protect our farmers and ranchers from unjust practices and strengthen GIPSA’s ability to enforce these issues,” Duvall said.
AFBF urges the USDA to continue working to achieve more fairness for growers.
“We look forward to working with the administration on specific measures that will ensure our growers operate in competitive markets—markets that do not include unfair, deceptive or discriminatory practices,” Duvall said.
U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chair Mike Conaway and House Agriculture Livestock and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee Chairman David Rouzer also praised the Trump administration’s withdrawal of the rules.
“Today’s decision helps restore both congressional intent and common sense by ensuring American producers have the freedom to market their products without the threat of frivolous lawsuits,” Conaway said in a statement.