The National Farmers Union organized briefings for the Senate and House Agriculture Committees in support of the proposed Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rule  this week, giving committee members and staffers the opportunity to hear testimony from pork, poultry, and beef producers.

The briefing panel consisted of Craig Watts, a contract poultry grower from North Carolina; Bob Mack, a cattle feeder from South Dakota; and Alan Hoefling, a pork producer from Iowa.  Each panel member gave testimony about how the current GIPSA regulations have affected their business, highlighting the lack of third-party oversight in the livestock industry as well as the alarming increase in market concentration over the past two decades.

“We need fair, competitive, and transparent markets,” said Mack.  “These rules are reasonable, and should have been established 90 years ago [with the passage of the Packers & Stockyard Act of 1921].”

GIPSA is accepting comments on the proposed rule through next Monday, November 22.  The GIPSA rule is our best shot in decades to restore a level playing field for family farm livestock and poultry producers, and NSAC is encouraging all of its member and partner organizations to submit comments in support of the rule.

Click here to learn more, read the rule, and submit your comments.