A webinar on the proposed GIPSA rule was offered this week by the National Agricultural Law Center (NALC) and is still available on line for those who are interested.

The webinar is one of several events the center has conducted for the industry to understand the rule, including a series of regional workshops in Arkansas. The purpose was to provide “information only” for livestock producers and others in the industry who would be affected by the proposed rule.

They provide a pretty detailed explanation of how and why the rule was developed, how and why to make comments, and a real in-depth look at what the rule actually says. The details of the proposed rule are presented by NALC staff attorney Beth Rumley and it’s definitely worth a listen. If you want to skip ahead to that, it starts about 35 minutes in to the webinar.

All livestock producers – poultry, pork and cattle – are strongly encouraged to find out how this proposed rule will impact them and provide comments to USDA before the comment deadline coming up on November 22. As of this week, over 11,000 comments have been received, according to NALC. That’s about twice what it was just three weeks ago, so with another five weeks of comment period time to go, lots more are expected. USDA is required to read and consider ALL comments that are received – so your comments are as important as your vote in an election, if not more so. The easiest way to make comments is by email at comments.gipsa@usda.gov.