In a letter to J. Dudley Butler, administrator of the US Department of Agriculture’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA), NPPC urged a 120-day extension of the comment period, which currently is set to expire 23 August.

The proposed rule would implement parts of the 2008 Farm Bill related to livestock and poultry contracts, including establishing criteria under the Packers and Stockyards Act for what constitutes providing or giving undue or unreasonable preference or advantage in a contract.

After a preliminary review, NPPC said the proposed rule goes well beyond the parameters set out in the Farm Bill, specifically with regard to sections on “unfairness,“ purchasing practices, contracts, “competitive injury“ and recordkeeping.

“Our initial reading of the proposed rule,“ said NPPC President, Sam Carney, “is that it is overly broad and very vague. We need more than 60 days to determine all of the ramifications this regulation could have on America’s 67,000 pork producers.“

NPPC said the scope of the proposed rule and the lack of an adequate economic analysis of its impact on the livestock industry warrant an extension of the 60-day comment period. The organisation also pointed out that the 23 August comment deadline is four days before the next USDA-Department of Justice workshop on competition in the livestock industry. Public comments from that event in Ft. Collins, Colorado, as well as ones from the final 8 December workshop in Washington, D.C., should be considered before finalising a rule, said NPPC.