10-21 IAN Otter on GIPSA

 GIPSA refers to efforts by the USDA and Department of Justice want to require packers to maintain written records that provide justification for differential pricing or any deviation from  standard price or contract terms offered to producers.  If a packer believes it can justify disparate treatment of producers, it must have a legitimate reason for that differential treatment. Here’s how Governor Otter feels: “We simply went back to the old feed yards and stockyards rules and regulations and said those have worked great for years. What’s wrong with us? Why are we trying to fix something that isn’t broken? Anybody ought to be free to sell at any price that they want to whomever they want. If the U.S. government would just get out of the way, there’s nobody gonna out produce the quality or the quantity of what the Idaho farmer, rancher, producer can produce. There’s nobody that’s gonna add better quality to the value of a raw resource that comes out of the farm gate than the Idaho work force and manufacturers. Get out of our way and Idaho will be the number one leader out of this recession.”