When Iowa hog farmer Sam Carney got his first look at the proposed Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rule released on June 22, he was shocked. “I thought it would be something to get rid of vertical integration,” Sam says. “And to me, this is just something that looks like they’re encouraging vertical integration.”

Sam is president of the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and a wean-to-finish operator in Adair, Iowa. He is also a small cow-calf operator, so he can look at the proposed rule from the viewpoint of both the pork and the beef industries. “Overall, I think that cattle and pork will be affected a lot more similar than poultry, but they’re trying to throw all three groups together, and I think that’s very risky because all species are different in the way their operations go,” he said.

Sam’s biggest concern with the rule is the potential loss of risk management and how that might impact a producer’s borrowing power. “If you’re not able to have some kind of marketing agreement, how’s your banker going to give you money?” He says that NPPC is “very much against” the proposed rule because they believe it goes way beyond the scope of what the Farm Bill intended.

Listen to or download my interview with Sam here: Sam Carney Interview

NPPC is working together with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association to make sure that producers are informed about the proposed rule and encouraged to make comments. The two groups will be holding a joint event for members the day before the USDA/DOJ public workshop on competition in the livestock industry in Ft. Collins, Colorado on August 27.

USDA has just released the agenda for the workshop, which includes several panels as well as three hours dedicated to public testimony. This will be split into two sessions, one at mid-day and the other after the final panel.