Farming advocates are pressing Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski to reverse a little-noticed measure approved by Congress last month that rescinded tough new rules on the poultry industry — a move that has strained the already rocky relationship between mom-and-pop chicken farmers on the Eastern Shore and Salisbury-based Perdue.
Under lobbying from the poultry industry, Congress quietly rolled back U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations that required chicken companies to give contract farmers 90 days' notice before yanking their business, mandated independent testing of scales used to weigh certain birds, and prohibited unfair or discriminatory business practices.
The provisions were tucked into a spending bill to fund the federal government through the end of September, enraging advocates for small farms who say it is only the latest move by the industry to undo federal regulations intended to strengthen the hand of independent growers.
It's called "the Perdue provision" - farmers get screwed again.
ReplyDeletePerdue would love for nothing more than the small mom and pop independant chicken growers who aren't under contract with them to be regulated out of business.
ReplyDeleteGood story in Saturday's Lancaster Farming about how the farm subsidies are only given to growers who are under contract with large corps because they affect the commodities. No subsidies are ever given to the small independant farmers thus keeping their prices higher so not attactive to a lot of consumers.