Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack weighed in this week on a bill to create a Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA) investigator at USDA to boost price discovery and transparency in the highly concentrated livestock sector. He says a Packers and Stockyards Act investigator could be part of broader USDA action to deal with unfair market practices harming small independent producers. “I …
R-CALF Files Class Action Lawsuit against Beef Packers
The Scott+Scott law firm has filed a class action lawsuit in federal district court in Chicago on behalf of R-CALF USA and four cattle-feeding ranchers from Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Wyoming. The suit alleges the nation’s four largest beef packers violated U.S. antitrust laws, the Packers and Stockyards Act, and the Commodity Exchange Act by unlawfully depressing prices paid to …
Farmer Fair Practices Rules Effective Date, Comment Periods Extended
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) is delaying the effective date of a rule by 60 days, and extending the comment period by 30 days, for three recent regulations, the Farmer Fair Practices Rules, published in the Federal Register Dec. 20, 2016. These actions are being taken in accordance with guidance issued Jan. 20, …