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NFU says “redress” is critical in GIPSA rule
National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson says a critical part of the GIPSA livestock marketing rule needs to be defined in the version the USDA has sent to the Office of Management and Budget.
Johnson says the most important part of the rule should be to make sure that if a livestock producer is harmed by the actions of a packer, they have the right to recourse.
“That’s true in all the rest of society,” Johnson says, “Why shouldn’t it be true for livestock producers who happen to be harmed by packers.”
Johnson says NFU’s interpretation of competitive injury, undue preference and unfair practices is very different from that of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association who is defending the packers.
“Right now, you have sort of a judicial interpretation that says in order for somebody to have the opportunity for redress if they are harmed by a packer,” says Johnson, “They have to prove that the whole economy was damaged by the action that the packer took against this individual. That’s a standard that is nonsensical. It was never intended under the law.”
Johnson says NFU’s position is the one that the USDA has advocated since the Packers and Stockyards Act went into place 90 years ago until what he calls the “activist judicial court rulings” that reversed the USDA’s position. Johnson tells Brownfield, “To Republican and Democratic administrations alike, USDA has always argued that the producer has that right to redress.”
Johnson says – bottom line – the focus should be on the individual livestock producer.
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