The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued the third proposed rule in a series of updates to the Packers and Stockyards Act (P&S Act). The rule addresses abuse by the poultry industry of broiler chicken producers under the “tournament” ranking system and situations where poultry companies make coercive facility investment demands of growers. The announcement also includes increased transparency in cattle contracts with new reports and tools through the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Live Cattle Data Dashboard.

“Family farmers and ranchers deserve to operate in a fair and transparent marketplace,” said NFU President Rob Larew. “This proposed rule aims to ensure poultry growers receive an honest price for their hard work and that they have access to adequate information before investing in major capital upgrades. NFU looks forward to reviewing the proposed rule to make sure it offers producers the protections they need.”

Over the past year, USDA finalized two P&S Act rules to improve transparency in poultry contracting and prevent discrimination, retaliation, and deception against livestock producers by meatpackers. Today’s proposed rule marks additional progress toward strengthening enforcement of the P&S Act.

NFU’s Fairness for Farmers campaign has highlighted the impact of monopolies on family agriculture at a national level. Updating and strengthening enforcement of the P&S Act is a central priority of this campaign and NFU’s grassroots policy.