Agricultural News
Over 44,000 Comments Submitted to Federal Government on GIPSA Rule
Tue, 23 Nov 2010 7:17:55 CST
The public comment period for the so called GIPSA Rule regarding the marketing of livestock in the United States closed at 12 midnight, but the question now becomes- will USDA bother to really respond to questions raised in the comments, and will USDA change anything about the rule based on the comments received.
According to the website, regulations.gov, 44,456 public comments are now posted on the proposed rule, making this one of the commented on rules this year. Many of the early comments called on USDA to extend the public comment period 120 days, and USDA did respond to that pressure by adding an extra 90 days to the process. One such request came from Scott Dewald of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association. Back on July 9, 2010, Dewald wrote on behalf of the OSA, stating that "any change of this magnitude deserves thorough review and careful analysis."
The most recent comments on this website were posted November 17- suggesting that thousands of additional comments pro and con are still to be added to the more than 44,000 comments that came in on the GIPSA rule.
Many of these comments on both sides of the issue were created with a template- with lots of the same verbiage repeated over and over and over.
In looking through the comments, I found one that was a little outside of the standard anti packer- anti large livestock operator commentary. It came from Jon Kirkpatrick of Silverhorne, Colorado. He wrote in part "these rules will go a long way toward guatanteeing fair contracts for livestock producers and poultry growers." He adds that "for years the meat packing industry has used their market power to bully livestock producers and feeders to accept unfair and deceptive contracts. I am pleased that USDA is finally stepping up to protect the independent livestock producer, feeder and contract grower. By implementing these rules, USDA can better use the laws already in place to stand up for the independent producers of this country and stop the manipulative actions of these packers. These rules are a very positive first step regarding contract fairness, and I look forward to the next steps in USDA's work to return fairness and competition to livestock markets." Mr. Kirkpatrick offers no hint that he has been or is in the livestock business in his comments submitted to USDA.
In contrast, J.D. Sartwelle, Jr of Dealy, Texas left no dount that he was a cattle producer- and not happy with the proposed rule. He states "In a nutshell, I believe your proposals will decrease competition in the market place." He adds "your rules don't take into consideration 21st century marketing systems and arrangements that can/will/does supply beef to over 300 million folsk in our country and many more in the world." Sartwelle concludes "I believe that these rules will set the beef industry back to yesteryear and actually decrease competition in all segments of our industry."
Another person that we could identify as a cattle producer was Mark Gardiner of Ashland, Kansas- a part of the legendary Gardiner Angus Ranch. Gardiner writes in opposition- and calls the proposed rule "wrong, un-American, and would be a devastating mistake to inflict upon our industry."
You can go and read as many of the comments as you want- click here for the Docket Summary for the GIPSA Rule.
We look at some of these comments on today's Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network- but is also a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the listen bar below for today's show- and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network- but is also a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the listen bar below for today's show- and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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