Last week, attorneys for the Organization for Competitive Markets presented oral arguments in their case against the USDA and Secretary Sonny Perdue over the withdrawal of the Farmer Fair Practice Rules. OCM Executive Director Joe Maxwell says they believe those rules were pulled without any basis.
He says he was surprised at the response from USDA attorneys who say the Ag Department was planning to restart the process of setting criteria for the GIPSA rules, to allow farmers to bring action against corporate market abuse.
Maxwell says the appellate judges took their case under advisement and will make a ruling later, which could take from a few months to a year to complete.
Maxwell says besides their lawsuit, OCM is asking President Trump to issue an executive order to implement the Farmer Fair Practice Rules.
