Publications: Livestock Marketing/Marketing Orders
Issue Brief: Organization for Competitive Markets Seeks Judicial Review of USDA’s GIPSA Rule Withdrawal
Alexandra Lizano, Research Fellow; National Agricultural Law Center
Elizabeth Rumley, Senior Staff Attorney; National Agricultural Law Center
This short informational piece provides essential background, current events, relevant legal issues, and additional resources regarding a set of rules released and later withdrawn by GIPSA, the USDA sub-agency responsible for administration of the Packers and Stockyards Act, which governs livestock and poultry contracts. Further, it discusses a legal challenge to the withdrawal of the regulations and provides a current legal status. Download this article. Posted 10/18/18
State-Specific Direct Marketing Business Guides
National Agricultural Law Center
University of Illinois at Urbana
The purpose of this project is to create legal guides for producers that wish to engage in the direct marketing of their agricultural products. The guides cover federal requirements as well-being tailored directly to states that are part of the MarketMaker® project. The guides address topics such as liability, business organizations, taxation, and legal issues surrounding the production and sale of specific agricultural products that are important in the state. Click to view this compilation. Posted November 2016.
Outline of GIPSA’s Proposed Rule Changes – Workshop Handout
Center Staff National Agricultural Law Center
GIPSA, the federal agency responsible for issuing regulations that govern contracting, buying and selling of livestock and poultry has proposed new rules on June 22, 2010, that- if finalized- would drastically change the way that producers, packers, dealers and contractors raise, buy, and sell livestock and poultry. In response to requests for information about the proposal, the National Agricultural Law Center organized and hosted a series of informational workshops, including a webinar, for livestock and poultry producers. This article is the handout that was given to attendees at the workshops, and it discusses the role of GIPSA as an agency, provides an overview of the proposed rule changes, reviews the UDSA rule-making process, and explains how to submit comments on the proposed rules. Download this article. Posted November 8, 2010.
GIPSA’s Proposed Rule Changes: What Are They? How Might They Affect You? How Can You Affect Them? – PowerPoint Presentation
Center Staff National Agricultural Law Center
This presentation was given at a series of producer-focused workshops organized and hosted by the National Agricultural Law Center on the topic of proposed GIPSA rules that- if finalized- would drastically change the way that producers, packers, dealers and contractors raise, buy, and sell livestock and poultry. These proposed regulations were issued on June 22, 2010, and the comment period is open until November 22, 2010. Topics include the role of GIPSA as an agency, the USDA rule-making process, an overview of the proposed rule changes themselves, and an explanation of how to submit comments on the proposed rules. Download this presentation. Posted November 8, 2010.
GIPSA’s Proposed Rule Changes: A Presentation for Livestock and Poultry Producers – Webinar Recording
Center Staff National Agricultural Law Center
GIPSA, the federal agency responsible for issuing regulations that govern contracting, buying and selling of livestock and poultry has proposed new rules on June 22, 2010 that- if finalized- would drastically change the way that producers, packers, dealers and contractors raise, buy, and sell livestock and poultry. In response to requests for information about the proposal, the National Agricultural Law Center organized and hosted a series of informational workshops, including this webinar, for livestock and poultry producers. The webinar was originally broadcast on October 14, 2010. It, like the other workshops, discusses the role of GIPSA as an agency, provides an overview of the proposed rule changes, reviews the UDSA rule-making process, and explains how to submit comments on the proposed rules. Before viewing the webinar, please click here to confirm your ability to connect to the server. View webinar recording. Posted November 8, 2010.
Farmer’s Legal Guide to Production Contracts
Neil D. Hamilton Ellis and Nelle Levitt Distinguished Professor of Law Director, Agricultural Law Center, Drake University Law School
Since its publication in 1995, the Farmer’s Legal Guide to Production Contracts has been a leading resource for producers, attorneys and others interested in the legal issues involved with production contracts. The book addresses typical elements and legal terms used, provides a primer on contract law and UCC provisions, walks the reader through typical clauses present in contracts, and discusses issues of contract performance and methods for resolving disputes. Separate chapters discuss the special issues inherent in grain, livestock, and vegetable production contracts and outline state and federal legislation on production contracts. Please note that the information presently included is current only to the original date of publication. Download this book. Originally published in print form January, 1995; digitized edition posted July 13, 2010
State Regulation of Production Contracts
Alison Peck National Agricultural Law Center Graduate Assistant
Increasingly, agricultural production in the U.S. occurs through production contracts – agreements through which producers (or “growers”) and contractors (typically agricultural commodity processors) detail an arrangement for raising agricultural commodities. These agreements, like most commercial contracts, are subject to state regulation. As agricultural production contracts have become more common, several states have enacted legislation directly regulating production contracts and the process of creating them. This article collects and briefly analyzes existing state laws– from Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin – that directly regulate production contracts. Download this article Posted: May 25, 2006
Market Concentration, Horizontal Consolidation, and Vertical Integration in the Hog and Cattle Industries: Taking Stock of the Road Ahead
Harrison M. Pittman Research Assistant Professor of Law National Agricultural Law Center
The level of market concentration in virtually every segment of the agricultural sector in the United States has increased significantly over the past several decades. The number of firms and actors within the sector, including producers, input suppliers, output processors, and food retailers, has decreased as their size has increased. The hog and cattle industries are two portions of the agricultural sector that have been the focus of recent litigation due to market concentration concerns brought about by horizontal consolidation and vertical integration. The Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 (PSA) and anti-corporate farming laws, both of which have been the basis of recent judicial activity, are two legal mechanisms implicated in the debate over market concentration in the hog and cattle industries. This article reviews the status of the PSA and corporate farming laws in light of the decisions in London v. Fieldale Farms, Corp., Pickett v. Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc., South Dakota Farm Bureau, Inc. v. Hazeltine, and Smithfield Foods, Inc. v. Miller. The article also examines the historical development and current structure of the hog and cattle industries and presents a brief overview of the PSA and corporate farming laws. Download this article Posted: August 14, 2005
Developments in Horizontal Consolidation and Vertical Integration
Doug O’Brien Staff Attorney National Agricultural Law Center and Drake Agricultural Law Center
The likely continued increase in agricultural consolidation and vertical integration, as well as a number of important decisions that will soon be handed down, ensure that the areas of antitrust and trade practice regulation will continue to be an important facet of agricultural policy. As it has in the past, the enforcement and interpretation of these laws will continue to play a crucial role in how the different agricultural sectors evolve. This article explores some of the recent developments, both in the industry and in the courts, that affect horizontal consolidation and vertical integration in agriculture. Download this article Posted: Jan. 19, 2005
Concentration Concerns in the American Livestock Sector: Another Look at the Packers and Stockyards Act
Jon Lauck Attorney and Professor of History South Dakota State University
In the early years of the twentieth century, the American meatpacking industry was often criticized for engaging in anticompetitive behavior. As one early report of the United States Senate concluded, “[i]t has been demonstrated beyond question that the history of the development of this industry has been the history of one effort after another to set up monopoly.” Such concerns prompted Congress to adopt the Packers and Stockyards Act in 1921. A civil action in which a federal jury found the meatpacking company Tyson-IBP guilty of depressing the price of cattle and highlights the importance of these concerns and the need for a more comprehensive understanding of the P&SA. This article outlines the general changes in the hog and cattle markets that have prompted concerns about competition, discusses concerns regarding the effectiveness of the Packers and Stockyards Administration as an enforcement agency, addresses concerns about the more general antitrust statutes, and sets forth the general history surrounding passage of the P&SA. Download this article. Posted: Oct. 18, 2004
An Overview of the Packers and Stockyards Act
Christopher R. Kelley Associate Professor of Law University of Arkansas School of Law
This article offers an overview of the structure and basic provisions of the Packers and Stockyards Act. It begins with brief accounts of the Act’s history and of the industries the Act regulates. It then describes the manner in which the Act regulates those subject to it–packers, swine contractors, stockyard owners, market agencies, dealers, and live poultry dealers. It concludes with a description of a recently enacted statute that, while not a part of the Packers and Stockyards Act, will apply to some within the sectors that the Act regulates. Download this article Posted: Aug. 11, 2003