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Fear dominates USDA lawsuit over GIPSA
Story Date: 12/18/2017
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Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 12/15/17
Farmers have been upset for several months about a USDA decision related to GIPSA rules. But many are also wary about possible retaliation from the large corporations they work for. As a result, many declined to join a lawsuit filed on Thursday by Democracy Forward and the Organization for Competitive Markets.
The two groups are suing in an effort to protect small farmers from the corporate giants. The team members who filed the petition said in an interview with your host that they approached roughly 30 farmers to join in, but many were scared for their livelihoods. "The fear is really rampant," said Karianne Jones, legal counsel for Democracy Forward. "We talked to a variety of farms who expressed interest in what we were doing."
Jonathan Buttram, a poultry producer from Northern Alabama who joined the case as a plaintiff, said he has watched his farm over the past decade shrink from 360,000 birds and 1,000 brood cows to simply 80 brood cows. He said he believed that being president of the Alabama Contract Poultry Growers Association and a board member of OCM has cost him significant business.
"What has happened because of me speaking out, I have been blackballed," said Buttram. Referring to what other farmers have been told about him, "The chicken company has told us not to talk to you."
The case's nuts and bolts: The Organization for Competitive Markets, an advocacy group based in Lincoln, Neb., is getting legal help from the liberal-leaning Democracy Forward. The suit argues that the USDA's withdrawal of Obama-era rules for GIPSA - the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration - was unlawful.
The Trump administration in October withdrew the rule that would have lowered the bar for producers of poultry and other livestock to sue the meatpacking or processing companies with which they have contracts. (In essence, growers would not have had to show that an unfair practice harms the entire market in order to prove a violation of the law.) USDA also said it would take no further action on a proposed rule to shield contract growers from unfair practices.
On the flip side, meatpackers and trade groups like the National Chicken Council and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association applauded the decision, saying that the rules would have invited frivolous and costly litigation.
The stakes: Aman George, Democracy Forward's director of legal policy, described this case as "one of this highest stake policy fights that we've taken on as an organization." "It's very clear that without proper protection, independent farmers can't really compete," he added.
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