New U.S. Rule To Protect Animal Breeders From Meat Processors Out Soon

The Biden administration plans to issue a new rule to protect the rights of farmers who raise cows, chickens, and hogs against the country’s largest meat processors as part of a plan to encourage more competition in the agriculture sector, Josh Funk and Nancy Benac reported for the Associated Press (AP).

The new rule that will make it easier for farmers to sue companies they contract with over unfair, discriminatory, or deceptive practices is one of several steps that the White House plans to announce in the next few days.

The US Department of Agriculture is also expected to tighten the definition of what it means for meat to be labeled a “Product of USA” to exclude when animals are raised in other countries and simply processed in the United States.

Farmer advocacy groups have pressed for change for years but Congress and the meat processing industry have resisted. A USDA official familiar with the White House’s plan said an executive order is expected to be announced this week that will clear the way for the new rules.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that the rules are designed to “increase competition in agricultural industries to boost farmers’ and ranchers’ earnings, fight back against abuses of power by giant agribusiness corporations, and give farmers the right to repair their own equipment how they like.”

The regulation will make it easier for farmers to bring complaints under the Packers and Stockyards Act and is similar to one the Trump administration killed four years ago. That rule was first proposed in 2010.

Several court rulings have interpreted federal law as saying a farmer must prove a company’s actions harm competition in the entire industry before a lawsuit can move forward.

The new rule would ease that high burden of proof.

Chicken and pork producers, for example, often must enter long-term contracts with companies such as Tyson Foods and Pilgrim’s Pride that farmers say lock them into deals that fix their compensation at unprofitably low levels and force them deep into debt.

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