Brownfield Ag News for America: Trump Administration withdraws GIPSA rule
By Julie Harker | October 17, 2017
The Trump administration has withdrawn regulations written last year by the USDA’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration, GIPSA – That move is being applauded by the largest livestock groups but highly criticized by smaller ones.
National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) applauds the withdrawal of the “so-called” Farmer Fair Practices Rules, saying they would have restricted the buying and selling of livestock – leading to the consolidation of the livestock industry and raising prices for consumers.
NPPC president Ken Maschhoff tells Brownfield Ag News it would have been costly to the pork industry and to producers, ultimately putting farmers out of business, “That number to be around $420-Million annually. So to a producer, an average pork producer, it would be $4.00 an animal, the projected cost. And that’s every single year.”
Joe Maxwell, with the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM), tells Brownfield the withdrawal is a grave disappointment, “This is clearly a slap in the face to every American farmer. These rules are very instrumental in allowing farmers to have a fair opportunity for prices, for a fair opportunity to have a marketplace that does not have predatory and retaliatory practices from multi-national corporations.” Maxwell says they will ask President Trump to restore the rule.