× Close Become a Member

RMFU News

Media Releases, Legislative News, Agricultural Updates

Share:

RMFU Denounces Latest Attempt to Kill GIPSA Rule

RMFU President Kent Peppler, a fourth-generation farmer in Mead, Colorado, today denounced the House for cutting USDA funds to enforce new livestock marketing regulations.

“This is just the latest attempt to prevent enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act,” Peppler said. “By striking funding for GIPSA from the budget, Congress is reversing an important part of the 2008 farm bill. Consumers are tired of price-fixing on meat, small livestock operations are being destroyed by it, and the corporate ag lobbies are trying every trick in the book to keep business as usual. This is the same kind of legislative backstabbing we had to deal with on country of origin labeling. If they can’t kill the bill before it’s born, they try to starve it to death.”

After passing legislation to mandate country-of origin labeling so that consumers could tell where their food was coming from and producers could benefit from the increasing market for local foods, Congress failed to fund the program adequately for nearly six years to effectively undo the legislation, which corporate interests opposed. “So, here we go again,” Peppler said. “Corporate profits trump the best interests of consumers and that shrinking middle class, the farmers and ranchers who grow our food. The GIPSA rules are a Bill of Rights for family farmers and ranchers. Consumers and producers can’t let this one go.”

Interested in Agriculture?

Share your voice and help shape the future of farming and ranching in the Rocky Mountain region.

Become a Member