Senators from both sides of the political aisle are sharply criticizing a recent Trump administration decision to kill regulations intended to protect farmers and ranchers from unfair trade practices.
The new regulations were drafted as an amendment to the Packers and Stockyards Act, and were designed to make it easier for individual farmers and ranchers to sue large meatpacking corporations that engage in unfair, discriminatory, deceptive or retaliatory trade practices.
Rolled out during the final days of the Obama administration, the Farmer Fair Practice Rules was initially scheduled to come into force on April 22, 2017. But implementation was delayed by the Trump administration for 180 days. On Oct. 18, one day before the Farmer Fair Practice Rules were to become law, the Department of Agriculture announced that the rule was being withdrawn – a move that provoked an angry response from both Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana).
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