Over the past two years, the Biden administration has been focusing on new regulations under the Packers and Stockyards Act. Unfortunately, these rules trample ranchers’ access to free market competition while putting American agriculture at risk.
I started working in the cattle business when I was just a teenager, and from then to now, the innovation that has happened in our industry has been incredible. Today, farmers and ranchers are more efficient than ever. We use fewer resources while producing more beef, which helps us feed not only our local communities but also the world. That innovation didn’t come from government mandates or heavy-handed policy in the market—it was a truly free market that led cattle producers to raise higher quality, sustainable beef.
Today, we risk losing those decades of innovation because Congress is listening to a small but vocal group of activists who seek more mandates on our farms and ranches. In 1921, Congress enacted the Packers and Stockyards Act to ensure competition in the livestock industry. Now, the Biden administration is seeking to expand the government’s power under the Packers and Stockyards Act, which threatens our access to free market competition.
The latest Packers and Stockyards rules would allow the U.S. Department of Agriculture to pick winners and losers in the cattle industry. Cattle are not all raised equally. Some producers invest in high-quality genetics, sustainable grazing management, and other practices that yield healthier animals and better beef. Those producers who go the extra mile to make a better product should be rewarded with higher prices, but these rules want the producer who did less work and made less money to receive an equal outcome.
The rules also open the door to frivolous litigation. Under current Packers and Stockyards regulations, a producer has grounds to sue if unfair market conditions caused harm to them. The latest rules lower that threshold by allowing anyone to sue, even if they can’t prove whether they were actually harmed. This means a producer who raises lower-quality cattle than his neighbor and is paid less for them can sue because he is angry over a lower price. I believe that if you work harder than the next person and raise higher-quality beef, you should be rewarded for that. That’s true competition and fairness. The risk of litigation will only disincentivize farmers and ranchers from making investments in higher-quality livestock. After all, why work harder if your neighbor can sue for the same price you’re earning? These same rules will also line the pockets of trial lawyers who are all too happy to engage in lawsuits against family farms and ranches and provide a way for disgruntled individuals to weaponize the Packers and Stockyards Act against their opponents.
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Packers and Stockyards overregulation has a tremendous risk on our food security. It is increasingly hard to make a living in the cattle business. Rising inflation and higher input costs are eating into our bottom line. We need innovation in our business to stay successful and keep raising high-quality beef. Today, farmers and ranchers are leading incredibly innovative programs like selling beef in locally branded programs that appeal to consumers’ interest in shopping locally or developing low-carbon beef that is raised more sustainably. All of these programs require producers to make financial investments and work hard, but these Packers and Stockyards rules could endanger this success and send cattle producers back to the days of low-quality beef—or worse—put them out of business.
We are lucky to already have robust oversight of the cattle markets from the Department of Justice and existing Packers and Stockyards division staff at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Implementing these new rules is a step too far that will inevitably hurt cattle producers’ innovation. Thankfully, last year, the House Appropriations Committee passed language to defund these rules and prevent them from harming the cattle industry. Unfortunately, activist groups are now trying to remove the language halting these rules and instead allow the Biden administration to rush forward on implementing them. I urge Congress to stand with real farmers and ranchers and protect innovation in the cattle business by defunding these unfair, harmful Packers and Stockyards rules.
Mark Eisele is a Wyoming rancher and the President of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.