by: Thomas F. “Fred” Stokes, OCM President Well they’ve done it; they’ve successfully ripped the very heart out of the proposed GIPSA Rule! The current administration gave us high hopes for reform of livestock markets and fair treatment for contract poultry and hog growers by reinvigorating the 90 year old Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA) through the rulemaking process. But the proposed GIPSA Rule has been reduced to relatively insignificant fragments by a congress that is beholden to Read More …
Tag: GIPSA
Letter from Langdon: You Don’t Prune Roots
Richard Oswald http://www.dailyyonder.com/letter-langdon-you-dont-prune-roots/2011/10/04/3551 We liked the idea of hope. We would like better some action. An old rivalry was renewed again awhile back when my team, the Rock Port (Missouri) Bluejays traveled into Tarkio Indian territory for a game of football. Compared to Tarkio’s history, Rock Port always seemed modest. We have some nice homes in Bluejay country, but along just about every street in Tarkio there is at least one mansion. I suppose that dates back to Read More …
Is the Independent U.S. Family Farm About to Be History?
Thomas F. “Fred” Stokes President Back in July of 1999, journalist Bill Bishop wrote a piece in the Lexington Herald Leader, entitled; “Corporate Interests plow deep”. In the article he said; “In the new agriculture, all farmers will work for “the man”. They’ll raise his chickens, turkeys, cattle, corn, tobacco, wheat and hogs. Farmers won’t farm; they’ll fulfill contracts. They will be hog-house janitors for Smithfield and plow jockeys for Cargill and ConAgra. ………. These companies don’t own the farm; Read More …
The GIPSA Bubble
by Randy Stevenson, President When the market moves, there is usually more than one single factor involved. This is especially true the more long-term we look at the market. But it is also common that one factor or another may have a stronger influence at any given time on the status of the market. It seems strange that over the past few months a rise of price in the cattle market has coincided with concern over the new Read More …
Let’s Look at the Statute. Surprise! It’s Not About Efficiency!
By C. Robert Taylor and David Domina Many academic economists have blinders on: All they see is efficiency, efficiency, efficiency. This is true of recent comments about GIPSA proposed regulations and the Packers & Stockyards Act of 1921. It is also true of numerous economic analyses by government and academic economists. Generations of economists have recognized that economic efficiency is necessarily a value-laden concept, and a particularly narrow view of economic affairs at that. Nevertheless, economists responsible for Read More …
Packers and Stockyards Act; Nullified by Judcial Activism! – Must We Let It Rest in Peace?
Thomas F. “Fred” Stokes Executive Director The Rule doesn’t reinvent the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 (PSA) but rather reinvigorates it”, so says David Domina, OCM General Counsel of the Proposed GIPSA Rule published on the federal register June 22, 2010. The rule was issued pursuant to the 2008 Farm Bill to clarify and interpret the 89 year old Packers and Stockyards Act, but the PSA (sometimes called the producer’s protection act) may well be nullified by Read More …
Free Clothes
by Richard Oswald The worst thing about being a farmer is free clothes. Let me explain; In the city awhile back I shopped around for new car deals. I was just looking when up walked a salesperson. When her eyes locked on my corporate logo I received an unsolicited offer right there in the showroom. “Would you like to know more about the fleet discount?” she asked seductively. Being a city gal, she didn’t realize I was only Read More …
GIPSA Lie Exposed
big_lie_about_gipsa_rules_exposed Press Release announcing posting of video proof of Dudley Butler’s actual statements regarding the GIPSA rule.