Fair and Competitive Markets

USDA has published the report, “Agricultural Competition: A Plan In Support Of Fair And Competitive Markets” that sets out USDA’s strategies to increase competition through investing in new competitors to address major bottlenecks in the food and agricultural supply chains, in particular meat and poultry processing and domestic fertilizer capacity. It also highlights USDA’s comprehensive efforts to reinvigorate competition and fair market regulation and oversight, and USDA’s efforts to enhance value-added competitive opportunities for producers, including the already-announced top-to-bottom review of the “Product of USA” label for beef and a newly announced review of animal-raising claims, among many other strategies and efforts.

• View the Agricultural Competition: A Plan In Support Of Fair And Competitive Markets Report

USDA announces publication of report “More and Better Choices for Farmers: Promoting Fair Competition and Innovation in Seeds and Other Agricultural Input Industries (pdf)”, Notice to Trade, and immediate actions to enhance transparency and promote fair competition in seed and agricultural markets. Find more information about the report.

The Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity proposed rule would revise regulations under the P&S Act by prohibiting certain prejudices and disadvantages against covered producers in the livestock, meat, and poultry markets. The regulations would identify retaliatory practices that interfere with lawful communications, assertion of rights, and participation in associations, among other protected activities. The regulations would also identify unlawfully deceptive practices that violate the P&S Act with respect to contract formation, contract performance, contract termination and contract refusal. The purpose of the rule is to promote inclusive competition and market integrity in the livestock, meat, and poultry markets. 

USDA has extended the comment period deadline for this rule by 45 days to Jan. 17, 2023. The department issued the proposed rule in the Federal Register on Oct. 3, 2022. The original deadline for comments was Dec. 2, 2022. All comments submitted will be considered as USDA develops a final rule.   

• View and comment Provide Comments on the Proposed Rule on Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity
• View the Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity Fact Sheet (pdf)

The Agricultural Marketing Service is seeking comments on proposed revisions to the regulations under the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 that would revise the list of disclosures and information live poultry dealers must provide to poultry growers and sellers as part of poultry growing arrangements and would establish additional disclosure requirements to determine settlement payments for poultry growers in connection with the use of poultry grower ranking, or tournament, systems by live poultry dealers.  The proposals are intended to promote transparency in poultry production contracting and to give poultry growers and prospective poultry growers relevant information with which to make business decisions.   

• View the Proposed Rule for Transparency in Poultry Grower Contracting and Tournaments
• View the Transparency in Poultry Grower Contracting and Tournaments Fact Sheet (pdf)
• View the AMS Webinar: Proposed Rule for Transparency in Poultry Grower Contracting and Tournaments

USDA published the final rule to secure the contract information needed to populate a Cattle Contracts Library in the Federal Register on Dec. 7, 2022. The final rule requires packers who slaughtered an average of not less than five percent of the number of fed cattle slaughtered nationally during the immediately preceding five calendar years to submit contractual information for the purchase of cattle. The final rule goes into effect Jan. 6, 2023.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 directed the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to create a Cattle Contracts Library Pilot Program to increase market transparency for cattle producers. The publication of the library will ensure complete reporting of contractual information and volumes purchased against the contracts, including: supplemental information on cattle requirements; associated schedules of premiums and discounts; delivery and transportation terms and payments; appendices and agreements of financing, risk-sharing, or profit sharing; or other financial arrangements associated with such contracts, whenever new contracts are offered, or existing contracts are updated.

Feedback gleaned from an April 2022 listening session and the months following, including comments related to content, frequency of reporting, and usability, helped the agency develop the pilot library. From this process, AMS developed a working library model which was primarily populated with inactive contracts. The model was presented to a wide range of stakeholders and end users, with a focus on content and usage. AMS expects to have a working library for public consumption in early 2023 with plans to hold an industry briefing session prior to release.

AMS is continuing to work with the industry to ensure entities required to report understand what type of information is required, and how and when it must be provided, and will engage in producer education through webinars, meetings, and other opportunities.

All information related to the library pilot is posted on the AMS Cattle Contract Library webpage.

USDA is issuing an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to gather comments and information to help USDA develop policy and future rulemaking proposals regarding the use of poultry grower ranking systems commonly known as tournaments in contract poultry production.  AMS seeks this input in response to numerous complaints from poultry growers about the use of tournament systems.  Comments in response to this request would help AMS tailor further rulemaking in addition to that already planned and under way to address specific industry practices in relation to tournament systems. 

• View the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

If you are a farmer, rancher, or agricultural producer, and have a problem or would like to report a possible violation of the law, please file your complaint at the Farmer Fairness Portal.

Building on the Biden-Harris Executive Order’s “Whole-of-Government” approach, USDA is also taking action to ramp up enforcement of the competition laws by challenging the state attorneys general (AG) to partner with USDA on competition issues in the food and agriculture space, using up to $15 million in funds from the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) for a combination of renewable cooperative agreements and memorandums of understanding that will improve state AG capacity to conduct on-the-ground investigations of competition issues, enhance coordination between Federal and state agriculture and competition enforcement authorities, create new and more independent research programs, and ultimately result in more rigorous enforcement of the competition laws.

View the USDA’s Agricultural Competition Challenge to the State Attorneys General (pdf) 

• USDA has launched a public inquiry into anti-competitive structures and conduct in several food and agricultural industries, including seed, fertilizer, and in retail.
  • Review the RFIs
  • Read the Comment Summary on Access to Fertilizer: Competition and Supply Chain Concerns (pdf)
• The DOJ and FTC launched a public inquiry seeking comment on merger guidelines that the agencies use to assess whether mergers or acquisitions may lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly. More information is available at Regulations.gov

Congress recognized that agricultural input and packing industries in some regions could be the only choices for farmers, and could thereby exercise their market power to increase costs or reduce payment for farmers. In response to farmers’ concerns over a century ago, Congress passed antitrust laws that prohibited monopolization, including by railroad and meatpacker trusts that combined production factories, stockyards, refrigerated rail cars, and other business lines. Recognizing (pdf) that farmers’ coordination of market activities could violate the antitrust laws, Congress through the Capper-Volstead Act permitted a limited antitrust exemption to farmer-owned and democratically elected cooperatives to possess and coordinate production, processing, and distribution activities. If you are interested in starting up or learning more about farmer-owned cooperatives, please see USDA Rural Development’s Cooperative Services webpage.

Congress also authorized USDA programs to enhance market competitiveness for U.S. farmers and ranchers, protect domestic food security, and promote the orderly production and distribution of agricultural products. Programs span all business lines in the food supply chain, including breeding new plant varieties that grow optimally in your region, conservation assistance, to grants and loans to build a feed mill. If you are interested in making use of the programs, which include grant funding, loans, and technical assistance, please see USDA’s Local and Regional Food Sector webpage.

USDA monitors markets and analyzes for anticompetitive practices that may affect agricultural and food systems. USDA regularly engages with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state attorneys general on competition-related matters, and may provide comments on USDA’s behalf to other agencies as well—for example, the Surface Transportation Board in the case of transportation-related competition issues. 

As one of several federal agencies authorized by Congress’ laws to protect farmers, ranchers, agricultural producers and the general public from anticompetitive structures and conduct, we take seriously all complaints and enforcement or remediation actions. For more information on problems reported by the public and how we may engage applicable agencies to enforce laws, see the table below. In some cases, state laws and enforcement authorities may be able to help you. Please contact the applicable state agencies for assistance.