The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a series of initiatives aimed at making the poultry industry more competitive, affordable, and transparent.
Under the Packers and Stockyards Act, the USDA has proposed new rules designed to promote market fairness for contract poultry farmers and improve transparency in the cattle market through advanced data tools.
These new measures, revealed on June 3, represent the Biden administration’s ongoing effort to address perceived inequalities within the poultry and meat sectors, which have been marred by price-fixing scandals in recent years.
Back in September 2022, the USDA introduced measures to address concerns about the concentration of power in the animal protein industry, where the dominance of a few companies was believed to be driving inflation and affecting consumers negatively.
Highlighting these ongoing concerns, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stated: “Under President Biden’s leadership, the USDA is leveraging every tool available to ensure fair competition, protect producers, reduce consumer costs, and combat unfair, deceptive, and discriminatory practices.”
The new proposals include reforms to Poultry Grower Payment Systems and Capital Improvement Systems to address abuses related to grower payment practices and additional investment demands often imposed on contract growers by poultry companies.
Andy Green, USDA’s senior advisor for fair and competitive markets, emphasized: “Poultry growers deserve fair treatment, and consumers deserve fair prices. This proposed rule aims to provide growers with a clear base price in contracts, ensure fair comparisons, and offer the information needed to identify and stop coercive investment demands before growers accumulate large debts.”
Additionally, the USDA has introduced new tools to enhance transparency in the cattle market. The Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR) Live Cattle Data Dashboard is a new data visualization tool that allows users to access and interpret live cattle market information easily.
The USDA’s broader goals include increasing independent meat and poultry processing capacity, expanding domestic fertilizer production, and creating a fairer market for seeds and other agricultural inputs, all aimed at building a more resilient supply chain.
“These investments will lead to better economic opportunities, resulting in more affordable prices and a wider selection for consumers, along with increased revenue opportunities for producers,” the USDA stated.
However, the announcement has faced criticism from industry representatives. Mike Brown, president of the National Chicken Council (NCC), commented: “These measures address problems that do not exist. This is another example of the Biden administration pushing its regulatory agenda before the upcoming election. The proposed rule, which lacks Congressional backing, will impose rigid, uniform requirements on chicken-growing contracts, stifling innovation, raising consumer costs, reducing competition, and driving some of the best farmers out of the business.”
