Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 7/18/19

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) are seeking signatures for a draft letter they plan to send to USDA Undersecretary Greg Ibach, urging him to ensure that any new rules proposed under the Packers and Stockyards Act prioritize supporting the needs of small, independent cattle ranchers, hog farmers and contract poultry growers.

The duo started circulating the letter on Capitol Hill last week and will continue to gather signatures next week. So far, Rep. Chellie Pingree(D-Maine) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) have signed on.

USDA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking in June indicating it would revisit the so-called GIPSA rules and seek to clarify specific actions on the part of "packers, swine contractors, or live poultry dealers" that would constitute a violation. The 1921 act protects farmers and ranchers from unfair practices by packers, processors and dealers.

Earlier in the Trump administration, Perdue provoked a legal challenge by scrapping an Obama-era interim final rule that would have lowered the bar for producers to sue packers or processing companies. Perdue also didn't take action on a proposed GIPSA rule to shield contract growers from unfair practices.

The Tester-Kaptur letter asks Ibach, USDA's regulatory lead, to affirm that farmers don't need to prove sector-wide anti-competitive behavior in order to sue, and seeks a number of other protections. Courts have ruled that farmers can only file suit if they show harm to their entire sector — a caveat due to the law's resemblance to existing antitrust statute. Advocates for small farmers argue the text of the law is clear that complainants only need to prove individual tort.

The letter also calls on USDA to ensure packers are not providing "preferential marketing arrangements" to large livestock feeders and excluding smaller, independent farmers. USDA did not respond to a request for comment.