Groups speak out on proposed marketing regs
By Greg Henderson
| Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Earlier this week, the USDA announced a 90-day extension to the comment period on the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration “undue preferences rule” that would place certain restrictions on how livestock are marketed.
The proposal was published June 22 and originally set a 60-day comment period. Comments will now be due by Nov. 22.
In announcing the extension, USDA Under Secreta r y for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Edward Avalos acknowledged the many requests for and against extensions of the comment period and said, “We take these requests very seriously. We feel it is important that producers and other stakeholders have adequate time to comment on the proposed rule.”
Most livestock and farm organizations have taken a stand on GIPSA’s proposed rule changes, and many have launched information campaigns to express their opinion on the proposed rules, and GIPSA extends comment period even whether USDA should have extended the comment period.
The American Meat Institute, which opposes GIPSA’s proposal, had requested the comment period be extended 120 days. AMI president J. Patrick Boyle called the 90-day extension “a step in the right direction” given the size and scope of the rule, but one that should have gone further. “While we appreciate the additional time, the new deadline precedes USDA’s final public meeting on competition issues schedule for December — a meeting that officials indicated in Congressional testimony this week is extremely important in determining public views on this issue,” he said. “Had the full 120 days been granted, the public meeting would have preceded the comment deadline and allowed all interested parties the full benefit of the public discourse in formulating their comments.”
A bi-partisan group of 22 House and Senate leaders sent a letter to USDA encouraging USDA to extend the comment period 120 days. The letter noted that the rule is “broad in scope” and will have “far reaching effects on meat and poultry production in the
Seventeen Senators wrote to the Secretary July 21 and expressed concern that the government is “missing a unique opportunity to hear directly from the various stakeholders” with its short comment deadline that precedes key public meetings and urged USDA to extend the comment period beyond the December 6th public meeting in Washington, D.C.
Other ag groups, however, had urged USDA not to extend the comment period.
