The Organization for Competitive Markets has joined farmer-plaintiffs from Alabama and Nebraska to sue the U.S. Department of Agriculture for cancelling the GIPSA Farmer Fair Practice Rules. OCM Executive Director Joe Maxwell says the lawsuit seeks to reverse USDA’s October decision. He says the GIPSA rules were mandated by the 2008 Farm Bill and should be implemented.
He says they’ve filed in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals and their case will prove that in October USDA illegally withdrew the GIPSA regulations.
Maxwell says those rules are needed to protect family farmers and ranchers from abusive practices by big agribusiness corporations.
He says they will be issuing briefs to the court and anticipate the case will take six-to-eight months to try.
Individual plaintiffs include Alabama farmer Jonathan Buttram and Nebraska farmer Jim Dinklage.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.