WASHINGTON – National Farmers Union (NFU) President Rob Larew today gave the following statement regarding the delay of the Poultry Grower Payment Systems and Capital Improvement Systems rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) from July 1, 2026, to December 31, 2027.
“NFU is disappointed that USDA is delaying the implementation of its rule to increase fairness in poultry contracting and payment systems. Growers have long raised concerns about the unfairness of tournament pricing and the amount and quality of information provided to them by poultry companies. The rule establishes guardrails on the tournament system, giving producers more certainty and transparency so they can operate their farm businesses successfully.
“NFU is eager to see implementation of this long-overdue rule. Delaying it is a disservice to family farmers who deserve a fairer system.”
Background
Broiler chicken growers operate under a tournament-style system, where they must compete against their neighbors for the best price. Growers cannot reasonably avoid certain practices that cause them harm. Growers also lack access to certain information, which inhibits their ability to meaningfully understand, negotiate, and enforce poultry growing contracts with live poultry dealers (LPDs), including in relation to capital investments that LPDs request.
On January 9, 2025, USDA’s AMS announced the finalization of the Poultry Grower Payment Systems and Capital Improvement Systems rule to address unfairness and deception in broiler grower payments, poultry grower tournaments, and capital improvement systems.
The final rule contains three main provisions that NFU and family poultry growers are eager to see enforced:
- Prohibit LDPs from reducing any rate of compensation under a broiler growing arrangement based upon a grouping, ranking, or comparison of growers (commonly called a tournament);
- Establish a duty of fair comparison that requires LPDs to design and operate their broiler grower ranking system to provide a fair comparison among growers; and
- Require LPDs to provide Capital Improvement Discloser Documents to broiler growers when the LPD requires the grower to make an additional capital investment.
The final rule was originally listed in the Federal Register to be effective beginning July 1, 2026.
Read the final rule and background on the rule in the Federal Register here.
Read USDA’s AMS’ overview and background on the final rule here.
Read NFU’s previous statement on the rule here.
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