USDA, livestock producers and Congress could find themselves in a race to see whether the Obama administration is going to dramatically overhaul rules under the Packers and Stockyards Act this year or face another appropriations rider that would block such action.
Based on Congressional hearings over the past few days in both the House and Senate, leaders of some livestock groups are upset that the proposals are being revived in USDA's Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyards Administration. USDA came out with a statement after some members of the House Agriculture Committee and livestock groups criticized the department's agenda regarding different provisions that highlighted major livestock industry rifts when they were first debated in 2010. USDA stated Congress should not return back to policy riders in appropriations bills to try to block the changes.
USDA stated, “Any efforts to once again block GIPSA’s rules to ensure fair treatment of livestock and poultry growers are not acceptable to this Administration, and do not look out for the best interests of America’s farmers, ranchers and rural communities. The incessant GIPSA rider demonstrates a complete lack of concern for honest, hardworking families. Maybe some people don’t remember the hardships recently suffered by our farming families in 2008 and 2009 when producers in Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas lost millions of dollars and their livelihoods when just one of the major poultry businesses went under. The focus should be on how to ensure a fair marketplace and a level playing field for our farming families—nothing less. Just ask the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Farmers Union and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition—groups that represent our farmers—and you’ll hear that this GIPSA rider is bad for family farmers, bad for the agriculture industry and bad for our rural communities. Everyone deserves a level playing field. Everyone deserves a fair shot.”