Independent ranchers received good news this week.
On December 14, the Grains Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration announced the Farmer Fair Practices Rules. The rules contain an interim final rule on competitive injury, a proposed rule on unfair practices and unreasonable preference, and a proposed rule on the tournament system and poultry. GIPSA will set a 60-day comment period.
“WORC is especially glad to see that the final rules make it clear that a producer harmed by unfair practices does not have to demonstrate harm to the entire industry to win in court,” said Mabel Dobbs, a rancher from Weiser, Idaho, and member of WORC. “This standard is nearly impossible for an individual rancher to meet and was not what Congress intended when it passed the Packers and Stockyards Act.”
She said the rules are important to independent ranchers now because four meatpackers control over 85 percent of the beef market and dictate the terms of production, marketing and pricing for cattle producers.
“The rancher needs access to the courts when meatpackers step over the line,” Dobbs said. “This rule will help restore that.”
Beef Checkoff
On December 12, a Montana magistrate judge recommended granting a preliminary injunction to stop the government from letting the Montana Beef Council collect and spend producer checkoff dollars without prior permission from each cattle producer. The Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America, or R-CALF USA, challenged the process.
“For years, WORC members have maintained that it is unconstitutional to require independent cattle producers to subsidize private corporations, like the beef councils,” Dobbs said. “We don’t agree with their message that all beef, including beef imported from other countries, is created equal, and we ranchers shouldn’t have to fund that message with our checkoff dollars. This week’s finding is just an initial step, but it’s an important one.”