Regulations
intended to help small farmers dealing with large-company meatpackers are going
to take effect in the United States after years of wrangling and debate.
The Obama
administration, which has only about one month left in power, announced the
measures this week.
The
administration first proposed similar rules in 2010, but Congress blocked funds
for them. Congress lifted that ban in a spending bill last year.
The United
States Department of Agriculture says one
rule that is effective immediately makes it easier for farmers to sue the
companies they contract with over unfair practices.
Two other
proposed rules aim to protect the legal rights of growers and help poultry
producers who say they are being unfairly targeted.
"All
too often, processors and packers wield the power, and farmers carry the
risk," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
"Today,
USDA is taking a big step toward providing the protections that farmers deserve
and need."
USDA
says the four largest poultry processors control more than half of the market,
giving chicken or turkey producers limited options for local processors to
contract with.
The
department says that means processors can suppress how much the producers are
paid or pit them against each other, among other unfair practices.
The
rule that is effective immediately, called an interim final rule, would clarify
that a farmer doesn't have to prove that an unfair practice is damaging to the
entire industry to sue.
The
poultry and livestock processors immediately criticized the new rules, saying
they will raise meat prices, cost jobs in rural America and prompt frivolous
lawsuits.
"The
vast majority of chicken farmers in rural America are happy and prosper raising
chickens in partnership with companies, and they don't want the government
meddling on their farms and telling them how they should run their businesses,"
said National Chicken Council President Mike Brown.
In a
release, the National Pork Producers Council called the rules "an apparent
attack on rural America for its role in helping elect Donald Trump as
president."
Vilsack
called that statement "absurd" in a call with reporters shortly
afterward.
"This
has nothing to do with the election of 2016, it has everything to do with what
is fair to producers," Vilsack said.
Mike
Weaver, the president of the Contract Poultry Growers Association of the
Virginias, supports the new rules. He said American family farmers "came
out of the woodwork" to support Trump and said these regulations are
designed to protect them.
"We
helped put him in office, we need some consideration," Weaver said.
It's
unclear whether the incoming Trump administration would side with the larger
businesses or the smaller-scale growers when the 60-day comment period on the
proposed rules ends.
Trump
hasn't commented on the issue, though he has promised to get rid of many of the
Obama administration's regulations, calling them burdensome.
