
Vilsack Announced Updated Poultry Tournament Rule
Finalizing a poultry tournament system rule designed to improve fairness.
“This is a system that has come under a great deal of concern and criticism by producers across the United States," Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack noted this week. "And we've taken this opportunity to listen to producers about what would create a fairer system, a more balanced system.”
Vilsack said the new rule addresses poultry producer concerns. Concerns such as reduced base pay, no longer continued in a tournament system, limits for variabilities within payment rates of specific tournament activities, and greater information transparency in areas such as capital improvements and inputs. Vilsack noted this is the latest in a series of rules and regulations designed to improve competitiveness in the livestock and poultry industries, per regulatory reforms within the Packers and Stockyards Act.
“We began that process by developing stronger directives concerning transparency in the relationships between producers and integrators," Vilsack said. "We wanted to make sure that producers received enough information, key information, so they had a better sense of who they were doing business with when they entered into contracts which they would be required to make significant investments. We followed that up with a rule that provides greater protection against acts of discrimination or retaliation, that may occur when producers exercise their rights to communicate with government agencies and things of that.”
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