USDA Announces New Rule to Protect Farmers and Ranchers from Meatpackers.

The proposed rule clarifies how prohibitions on unfair practices will be enforced under the Packers and Stockyards Act.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) took an important step towards ensuring fair markets for farmers and ranchers this week, announcing the “Fair and Competitive Livestock and Poultry Markets” proposed rule. The rule would address onerous “proof of harm to competition” standards imposed by some courts that make it difficult for farmers and ranchers to bring lawsuits against meatpackers for Packers and Stockyards Act violations.

“Entrenched market power and the abuses that flow from it remain an obstacle to achieving lower prices for consumers and fairer practices for producers,” said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in a statement. “Today’s proposed rule stands for clear, transparent standards so that markets function fairly and competitively for consumers and producers alike. With our whole-of-government approach to competition and resiliency, the Biden-Harris Administration is fighting every day to lower costs for American families and give farmers a fairer shake.”

Many family farm groups support more aggressive enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act, and welcome the USDA’s proposed rule. For example, the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC) said that these new rules mark a pivotal moment in the fight for justice and fairness in the agricultural industry.

"The USDA's announcement is a significant victory for independent farmers and ranchers," said Liza Cuthbert-Millet, a rancher in Weston County, Wyoming, and a board member of Powder River Basin Resource Council. "These rules will level the playing field and ensure that hardworking producers have a fair shot at justice when they’ve been wronged."

"No one wants to go to court. But when farmers and ranchers are wronged, they deserve a justice system that doesn’t require them to jump through impossible hoops to be heard," added Corey Hart, a rancher in Well County, North Dakota, and member of Dakota Resource Council. "These rules will provide the necessary clarity and support to ensure that our producers are treated fairly and that anti-competitive behavior is stamped out before it can cause further harm."

"We applaud the USDA for developing clear regulations that will help prosecute the big packers that run the American Meat Cartel for their mafia-like tactics that have put countless American family farmers out of business," said Marty Irby, president at Competitive Markets Action and Secretary at the Organization for Competitive Markets who also represents the Alabama Contract Poultry Growers Association as their lobbyist. 

"Our farmers and ranchers applaud this encouraging news that gives a glimmer of hope amidst the fallout of Glenn Thompson’s House Farm Bill that would further consolidate agriculture in the U.S. and hand meat production over to foreign interests like the Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods, and Brazil-based JBS. A reckoning that will end the status quo is coming soon,” Irby said.

According to USDA, the proposed rule will better protect farmers, ranchers, and other covered market participants by making clearer how prohibitions on unfair practices will be enforced under the Packers and Stockyards Act. Specifically, the rule provides clearer tests and frameworks around unfair practices that harm market participants individually and unfair practices that harm markets overall. If finalized, this rule would better enable USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service to carry out its legal obligation to ensure fair and competitive national livestock, meat, and poultry markets and ensure livestock producers and poultry growers can secure the full value for their products and services.

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