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USDA releases final GIPSA livestock rule

The USDA has released the final GIPSA livestock rule, saying it will restore fairness and reduce the burden for livestock producers seeking justice under the Packers & Stockyards Act.

National Farmers Union president Roger Johnson welcomed the news.

“For years, farmers and number of farm and food groups have advocated for basic fairness rules, like providing producers and growers with access to information about how their pay is calculated, or not requiring a producer to show competitive injury to the entire industry in order to prove that they were harmed,” Johnson says.

While the poultry industry is the main target of the rule, some cattle and hog groups say their members could be negatively impacted as well. But Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says that is not the intent.

“This new proposal has been significantly modified from the 2010 proposal and should allay the concerns and fears that somehow this is going to preclude or prevent value-added contracts, breed certification, source verification, or product method certification,” Vilsack says.

“The intent is to provide greater clarity—a sharper, brighter line—so folks know exactly what they can and cannot do…where they will or will not expose themselves to potential liability,” he says. “We believe that certainty is going to make it easier, not more difficult, for the industry.”

However, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) remains unconvinced. CEO Neil Dierks says the rule’s competitive injury language “will be a boon to trial lawyers”. And that, he says, could ultimately restrict the buying and selling of livestock and lead to more consolidation of the industry.

“The real concern with this is that what it will do is give an incentive for those entities with the packers and processors segment of the industry to raise more their own pigs, which we see as leading to more vertical integration and creating fewer opportunities for producers out in the countryside,” says Dierks.

He says NPPC will work with the Trump administration and Congress to repeal the GIPSA rule.

AUDIO: USDA GIPSA teleconference with ag reporters–includes comments from Tom Vilsack and Roger Johnson

 

AUDIO: Neil Dierks, NPPC