Open Markets and Food & Water Watch Team Up on Comments to USDA Regarding Proposed Packers and Stockyards Rules
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 18, 2023
Contact: Claire Kelloway, kelloway@openmarketsinstitute.org
WASHINGTON - The Open Markets Institute and Food & Water Watch this week submitted joint comments on the USDA’s proposed Packers and Stockyards rules to strengthen farmers’ discrimination and retaliation claims against meatpackers. Open Markets also submitted an additional set of comments independently.
“Dominant meatpackers get away with cheating farmers because they can retaliate against dissenters without real consequences,” said Open Markets Institute Food Program Manager Claire Kelloway. “We need to protect farmers who speak up and we’ve provided feedback on the USDA’s rulemaking to help them do just that.”
On September 7, 2022, Open Markets Institute hosted the Midwest Forum on Fair Markets in Minneapolis, MN, alongside Institute for Local Self Reliance.. There, Open Markets heard directly from producers and independent grocers about the ways in which dominant players have used their monopsony power to keep smaller competitors on the sidelines.