Farmers and ranchers now can anonymously report potentially unfair and anticompetitive practices in the livestock and poultry sectors using an online tool the U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Justice (DOJ) launched. The launch of the new tool, located at farmerfairness.gov, will advance the goals of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Action Plan for a Fairer, More Competitive, and More Resilient Meat and Poultry Supply Chain, including by creating more competitive agricultural markets that are fairer to producers and consumers. As part of the agencies’ enforcement partnership, the agencies are signing an interagency Memorandum of Understanding to further foster cooperation and communication between the agencies and effectively process the complaints received through the portal.
“This new online tool will help USDA and the Justice Department address anticompetitive actions and create livestock and poultry markets that are fairer to our nation’s producers,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “I encourage producers who are aware of potential violations of competition laws to submit information to the portal so we can take appropriate action to create more competitive markets in the agricultural sector.”