News

Court hears arguments in GIPSA withdrawal lawsuit

 

 

A St. Louis judge heard arguments from farmers and ranchers suing the federal government for withdrawing the Farmer Fair Practices or GIPSA rule.

One of them is Mike Calicrate who raises hogs and feeder cattle in Kansas.  Calicrate tells Brownfield, “This is a desperate and dire situation for America’s farmers, the ones that are left.”

The Organization for Competitive Markets and Calicrate say Secretary Sonny Perdue illegally withdrew the rule Congress ordered to protect producers from unfair practices by large agribusiness companies.

Calicrate says concentration within agriculture is hurting farmers and ranchers.  “We’ve lost 87,000 cattle feeders.  We’ve lost nearly half of our ranchers.  We’ve lost 95% of our pork producers.  We’ve lost almost 90% of our independent dairy farmers.  I mean, this is a national security issue that is of the utmost importance.”  Calicrate tells Brownfield he was “blackballed” by the big meat packers more than twenty years ago for speaking out against what he called their “abusive market power.”  He has since developed his own processing and marketing channels.

The Eighth Circuit Court is hearing the case.  A decision is not expected right away.