Washington - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reached a consent decision and order against Lynch Livestock Inc. of Wacoma, Iowa, on July 13, 2021, for alleged violations of the Packers and Stockyards (P&S) Act.
An investigation by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service revealed that from January 2018 through December 2020, Lynch falsified the account of purchase provided to hog sellers by manually manipulating the scale at its Wacoma, Iowa, buying station, which caused the scale to record a lower weight for hogs delivered.
Lynch fully cooperated with the investigation and immediately took corrective action prior to entering into the consent decision and order. Lynch is ordered to cease and desist from improperly weighing hogs, creating false scale tickets, and recording false weights on account of purchases. Lynch was assessed a $445,626 civil penalty.
The P&S Act requires subject entities to issue the full payment for livestock by the close of the first business day following purchase and transfer of possession. Failure to timely pay for livestock purchases and failure to issue the full payment for purchases is an unfair trade practice and a violation of the P&S Act.
The P&S Act is a fair-trade practice and payment protection law that promotes fair and competitive marketing environments for the livestock, meat and poultry industries.
For further information about the Packers and Stockyards Act, contact Bryice Wilke, Packers and Stockyards Division, at (515) 314-3888, or by email at Bryice.A.Wilke@usda.gov.
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service
