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Exhibit 616

Undue and Unreasonable Preferences and Advantages Under the Packers and Stockyards Act (85 FR 79779)

Exhibit 616 ยท Federal Register final rule

Undue and Unreasonable Preferences and Advantages Under the Packers and Stockyards Act (85 FR 79779)

This final rule establishes a new regulation containing criteria the Secretary of Agriculture will consider when determining whether an undue or unreasonable preference or advantage has occurred in violation of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (Act).

Trump-administration final rule (effective 11 January 2021) implementing a 2008 Farm Bill requirement. The preamble records commenters who said it left the Act "largely unenforceable for individual farmers and ranchers" because it did not restate that violations can occur without competitive injury, and says the listed criteria "are not safe harbors." The Biden White House later called the Act "systematically weakened by the Trump Administration USDA."

Source
USDA Agricultural Marketing Service
Date
11 December 2020
Quoted from
Federal Register abstract (Summary)
Grade
Primary record
Document
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-12-11/pdf/2020-27117.pdf
Accessed
2026-11-09
Cited by
Findings citing this exhibit

Cited by

Finding AGR-5.3
Primary record USDA rules defining unfair practices under the Packers and Stockyards Act were proposed in 2010, limited by a 2011 appropriations rider, issued in 2016, withdrawn in 2017, finalized in 2020, expanded in 2024 and, for broiler grower payments, delayed in 2026 to December 31, 2027. Administrations and Congresses of both parties acted at each step, and White Houses of both parties described meat processing as insufficiently competitive in January 2022 and September 2026.