Meat and poultry industry has mixed reaction to reviving GIPSA rules

While the meat and poultry industry's main focus in recent weeks has been on the new U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement and securing a new farm bill, they're also keeping a close eye on the Trump administration's plan to revisit the contentious Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rules in 2019.The industry offered a mixed reaction to the Trump administration's announcement last week that it would revisit the GIPSA rules, and that the rules would reappear in the spring 2019 regulatory agenda, which sets out a list of priorities for the coming year.The rules, which were published in the waning days of the Obama administration, were designed to balance the power between meatpacking companies and contract growers.The plan to revive two of the three GIPSA rules emerged at a Sept. 26 hearing in a case challenging USDA's decision to scrap the two rules. The case was brought by the advocacy group Organization for Competitive Markets and legal nonprofit Democracy Forward.During the hearing, a Department of Justice attorney, arguing on behalf of USDA, told a panel of judges the department intends to place a proposed rule on its upcoming regulatory agenda. That's a sign, he said, that USDA has not abandoned a congressional farm bill mandate to write regulations to aid farmers who do business with meatpacking companies.