Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 6/16/16


The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, the Rural Advancement Foundation International and the Government Accountability Project are urging Congress to allow USDA to finalize rules they say will protect the rights of contract broiler growers.

The groups, on behalf of Eric Hedrick, a longtime Pilgrim’s Pride contract broiler grower in West Virginia, delivered to lawmakers a petition with more than 62,000 signatures from “concerned advocates” who support his cause. The groups claim Hedrick is the largest single-owner producer in West Virginia and the second-largest poultry producer in the United States.

Hedrick and his supporters contend that the current system under which chicken processing companies work with contract growers is unfair; it provides that “the farmer owns everything that costs money (the chicken houses, the land and the equipment) while the corporate integrator owns what makes money — the chickens.” The GIPSA rule, as it is commonly called, would provide some protections, including easing the legal standard by which contract growers can sue processors for “unfair” practices.

The petition comes as the debate over the GIPSA rule heats up on Capitol Hill. The House has passed an amendment to its appropriations package for fiscal 2017 that prevents USDA from finalizing the rules, while the Senate’s version so far contains no language that would prevent USDA from doing so.

Tom Super, vice president of communications for the National Chicken Council, called the petition a “PR gimmick” that is “filled with more fallacy than fact” and disagrees with the majority of U.S. poultry farmers.

While the farmers under contract have to invest capital in their farms, the company covers the cost of feed (the No. 1 input cost in raising a chicken), chicks, medicine, veterinary care, transportation and marketing, he noted in an emailed statement.

“The current contracting system has worked well for more than 60 years and has helped promote steady improvements in live chicken performance that have benefited chicken farmers, the companies they produce for, the well-being of the birds, and ultimately consumers,” Super said.

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