USDA has released a new rule defining what constitutes an “unreasonable preference,” which is clearly prohibited by the Packers and Stockyards Act. Meatpackers have given huge volume-based premiums to the largest hog and cattle producers for decades, helping them drive smaller, family farm and ranch livestock producers out of business.

USDA has been lackluster in holding packers accountable for the discriminatory pricing and other “sweetheart deals” they provide to the largest livestock producers. And the rare cases they have pursued have not fared well in court.

That is precisely why the Center for Rural Affairs worked so diligently during the last farm bill debate to secure the provision in the Livestock Title compelling the Secretary of Agriculture to define an “unreasonable preference.” There wasn’t much attention to that provision back then, and many days you could fit the Center’s and the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition’s allies on the issue in a phone booth, but, at the end of the day, we prevailed.

USDA had been “poised” to release their new rule for over six months, and it finally came in mid-June. Thanks to the USDA-Justice Department antitrust workshops, a lot more people are paying attention now. And, as we expected, once USDA published their new rule, the packers began to complain. Stay tuned at www.cfra.org/competition to find out more about this and other livestock market reforms.

The Environmental Protection Agency recently named new members of its Farm, Ranch and Rural Communities Committee. The committee advises EPA on a range of environmental issues important to agriculture and rural communities, such as non-point source water pollution and agricultural air quality issues.

Tom McDonald, vice president for environmental affairs at Five Rivers Cattle Feeding – the nation’s largest cattle feeding operation, owned by JBS, the nation’s largest beef packer – was among the 29 committee members named. Not to worry, they didn’t leave out the pork industry, naming Dennis Treacy, senior vice president for corporate affairs at Smithfield Foods, the nation’s largest pork packer and producer.

I feel safer already.

Contact John Crabtree, johnc@cfra.org or 402.687.2103 x 1010 for information or to comment.