Market Competition is good for consumers and family farmers & ranchers
GIPSA rule would protect basic rights of family farmers – and maintain choices for consumers
It’s rather unbelievable that an administration in Washington which talks every day about “fighting for the middle class” has delayed implementing the GIPSA rule. Please find below a clear explanation of the issue from the National Farmers Union. The Ohio Farmers Union is joining NFU in urging our members – and others who support us – to contact their elected representatives in Washington and tell them you want the GIPSA rule implemented now. Follow this link to find your member of Congress and U.S. Senators and use the contact forms on their websites to ask them to tell the Obama Administration that GIPSA should be implemented now.
In June 2010, the U.S. government provided some simple clarifications to the law that governs the relationship between livestock producers and the meatpackers and processors who buy their animals. This proposed change, known as the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (or GIPSA) rule, would help to ensure fairness and bargaining rights for individual producers and restore competition to agricultural markets. Predictably, it prompted immediate and vigorous backlash from meat processors.
It protects the basic rights of family farmers. It ensures farmers are able to have their contracts reviewed by an attorney or financial specialist so they know they’re not being cheated, and it protects farmers who speak out against unfair practices from retaliation from packers and processors. It allows a poultry farmer, previously denied the opportunity to watch his chickens being weighed after purchase, to make sure the weights recorded are accurate. Hog farmers who were kept in the dark about each others’ contracting agreements could compare their contracts and other vital documents to make sure they are being treated fairly.
Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Barack Obama, GIPSA, National Farmers Union, USDA
Action Alert: Let Sen. Brown Know You Support Funding New GIPSA Rule
Ohio Farmers Union President Roger Wise asked OFU members last week to sign letters to U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown in support of funding the new Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration (GIPSA) rule.
OFU President Letter to Members & Farmers and Letter of Support to Sen. Brown
“For decades, a very small handful of giant meatpackers and processors has been underpaying and unfairly treating farmers and ranchers. However, funding for a new GIPSA rule is being considered by the US Senate subcommittee for Ag Appropriations (which Senator Sherrod Brown serves on) and we need to show support for it so the Senator stands strong with family farms,” Wise wrote.
Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: GIPSA, Roger Wise, Sherrod Brown
OFU Members’ Help Needed to Ensure Fairness in Livestock Markets
Three years after the 2008 Farm Bill passed and one year since the Obama Administration published the proposed Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rule – also known as the Farmer and Rancher Bill of Rights – the nation’s family farmers are still waiting for Washington to do what it promised.
Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Action Alert, Barack Obama, GIPSA, National Farmers Union, Obama Administration
One Year Later, Market Fairness Rule Still Not Implemented (GIPSA)
WASHINGTON – National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson issued the following statement in recognition of the one-year anniversary of the proposed Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rule:
“The Obama Administration needs to act now to implement and enforce the GIPSA rule. Farmers and ranchers need a fair marketplace now more than ever. We have waited long enough.
“It has been one year since the GIPSA rule was proposed. Since then, more than 60,000 comments were submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regarding the rule. It has been more than three years since the 2008 Farm Bill was passed with a mandate to put forward protections for farmers and ranchers. It is long past time to implement these reforms to protect family farmers and ranchers.
Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Barack Obama, GIPSA, National Farmers Union, Roger Johnson, USDA