Cattle producers want policies to protect competition in cash markets that set prices for the whole industry. USDA took a first step to do something about it, but it can’t finish the job before Biden’s term is up.
Read More
Antitrust enforcers dealt two major challenges to corporate power at different ends of the food supply chain over the past two weeks.
Read More
New USDA rule could clear the way for farmers to challenge meatpackers for retaliation and discrimination. Plus USDA commits $15 million to boost state attorneys general.
Read More
In its final days, the Trump administration finalized narrow and industry-friendly Packers & Stockyards rules that will leave farmers with little recourse if they are abused by meatpackers.
Read More
Last month, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service announced that the world’s largest meatpacker, JBS, made inaccurate and non-transparent payments during early 2018 to ranchers at its Grand Island, Nebraska plant.
Read More
Almost a century ago, in 1921, Congress passed the Packers & Stockyards Act to protect America’s farmers and ranchers from meat packing monopolies. Last week the Department of Agriculture quietly eliminated the independent office tasked with enforcing that law, the Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA). The change was the single biggest in agricultural antitrust regulation since Congress passed the original Act.
Read More