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Trump’s Withdrawal of the GIPSA Rules Lets Agribusiness Giants Bully Small Farmers

Oct. 17, 2017

Trump’s Withdrawal of the GIPSA Rules Lets Agribusiness Giants Bully Small Farmers

Statement of Amit Narang, Regulatory Policy Advocate, Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division

President Donald Trump today is brazenly attacking small farmers.

If anyone had doubts that Trump’s deregulatory binge is fully centered on handouts to big business, while paying lip service to helping small businesses, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) decision today to undo the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rules put in place by the Obama administration should extinguish those doubts.

The GIPSA rules helped small farmers in rural communities across the country level the playing field against the handful of huge corporations that have a stranglehold on the meat processing market. Meat processors use their size and power to engage in anti-competitive practices against small farmers. Now they have leveraged their lobbying power in Washington, D.C., to kill a badly needed regulation that would give small farmers a chance to fight back.

The USDA’s deregulatory action makes Trump’s promises to farmers in rural America worthless and empty. No one should be fooled the next time Trump claims he is killing regulations on behalf of small businesses. The truth is that the only businesses that have Trump’s ear are the big businesses driving his deregulatory agenda.

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