Source: Susan Kelly, MEATINGPLACE, 8/2/18


In a brief filed this week in its lawsuit against USDA, the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) argues that a U.S. appeals court should order the agency to reinstate the Farmer Fair Practice Rules that Congress commanded in the 2008 Farm Bill.

USDA in October withdrew the interim final rule, which was intended to update the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921. The rule was seen as offering farmers and ranchers protections in dealings with meat and poultry processors and faced opposition in the processing industry.

Democracy Forward, a non-profit legal organization representing OCM, filed suit against USDA in December in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, seeking to have the rule reinstated.

OCM, an advocacy organization for family farm interests, argues that the court is required by law to compel USDA to issue the regulations. USDA’s withdrawal of the interim final rule “was not the product of reasoned decision-making” and was ”arbitrary and capricious,” OCM contends in the brief.

“The Trump Administration defied Congress’s mandate, in the 2008 Farm Bill, to publish regulations clarifying what conduct violates the Packers and Stockyards Act,” Democracy Forward said in a press release.

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