Published July 14, 2026
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is preparing to unwind a set of Biden-era protections for livestock and poultry producers under the Packers and Stockyards Act, drawing praise from meat and poultry trade groups and sharp criticism from farm advocacy organizations. The move, disclosed as part of the administration’s 2026 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, touches rules that reshaped how packers, integrators, and contract growers do business over the past two years.
Table of Contents
What’s Changing
USDA’s 2026 rulemaking agenda identifies three Packers and Stockyards Act (P&S Act) rules for rescission or delay:
Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity Rule
Finalized in March 2024 and effective that May, this rule prohibits packers, swine contractors, and live poultry dealers from discriminating against producers based on characteristics such as race, sex, religion, disability, or marital status, and bars retaliation against producers who communicate with government agencies, join producer associations, or explore relationships with competing buyers. USDA’s agenda marks this rule for rescission.
Transparency in Poultry Grower Contracting and Tournaments Rule
Finalized in late 2023, this rule requires poultry integrators to disclose average annual gross payments over a five-year period, variable production costs, grower litigation history, bankruptcy filings, and turnover rates before growers sign contracts. This rule is also marked for rescission.
Poultry Grower Payment Systems and Capital Improvement Systems Rule
Finalized in January 2025, this rule was set to take effect July 1, 2026. It would have barred integrators from paying reduced “tournament” rates below a grower’s own reasonable costs, established a duty of fair compensation in how growers are ranked against one another, and required fair, documented ranking policies. Rather than rescinding it outright, USDA has delayed its effective date to December 31, 2027, while it reconsiders the rule’s future.
In short: two rules are targeted for full rescission, and the third — arguably the one with the most direct effect on grower pay — has been pushed back roughly a year and a half rather than eliminated.
Industry Reaction Is Split
Processor and integrator groups welcomed the announcement as regulatory relief. Poultry industry trade group leadership said the rescinded rules had added compliance costs and legal uncertainty without a clear benefit to farmers or consumers.
“We thank Secretary Rollins and President Trump for their work in cutting unnecessary red tape on businesses and producers, including the Biden administration’s Packers and Stockyards rules. These rules were rushed, one-size-fits-all mandates that would have added compliance costs and legal uncertainty without benefiting farmers or consumers.” — Harrison Kircher, President, National Chicken Council
“We are grateful to President Trump, Secretary Rollins and Deputy Secretary Vaden for continuing their efforts to get rid of misguided and costly Biden-era regulations, which placed plaintiff lawyer profits ahead of farmers and ranchers’ prosperity. The Biden administration attempted to use lawfare to limit marketing options that reward livestock and poultry producers for investing in their operations and providing consumers with the abundant and high-quality meat and poultry they demand.” — Julie Anna Potts, President and CEO, Meat Institute
Farm and grower advocacy groups took the opposite view. The American Farm Bureau Federation and National Farmers Union issued a joint statement opposing the rollback, and organizations including R-CALF USA and the Campaign for Contract Agriculture Reform have pushed back specifically on the delay to the payment systems rule.
“The Trump administration has long said that it supports farmers and ranchers, but voiding these rules would do the exact opposite. Instead, more power would be given to large processing companies at the expense of America’s farmers.” — Zippy Duvall, President, American Farm Bureau Federation, and Rob Larew, President, National Farmers Union (joint statement)
What This Means for Industry Professionals
None of these changes are final yet — rescinding a finalized rule requires USDA to go through notice-and-comment rulemaking, the same process used to create it, and that process can take months and invites legal challenges. Still, the direction of travel matters for planning purposes across the meat and poultry supply chain.
For Packers, Integrators, and Processors
- Compliance costs tied to the discrimination, retaliation, and contract-disclosure provisions may ease once formal rescission is finalized — but until then, the current rules remain in effect and enforceable.
- Legal exposure under the broader “unfair practices” standard could shift back toward the pre-2024 approach, which generally required producers to show harm to competition as a whole rather than just harm to themselves — a higher bar that historically made P&S Act claims harder to win.
- Companies that already built compliance programs around the tournament payment and disclosure rules should hold off on dismantling them until rescission is finalized, since litigation or a change in administration could reverse course again.
For Contract Poultry Growers
- The disclosure protections around average pay, variable costs, and integrator litigation history — information growers have used to evaluate contracts before signing — are at risk of going away if the transparency rule is rescinded.
- The payment systems rule’s delay means the tournament system protections growers were expecting on July 1, 2026, will not take effect until at least the end of 2027, if at all.
- Growers negotiating or renewing contracts in the near term should assume the current, pre-rule contracting environment rather than count on new federal disclosure or payment protections arriving on schedule.
For Cattle, Hog, and Other Livestock Producers
- The Inclusive Competition rule’s discrimination and retaliation protections apply beyond poultry to cattle and swine producers dealing with packers and contractors; its rescission would remove those specific federal protections industry-wide.
- Producers relying on the P&S Act to challenge unfair or retaliatory treatment should track whether rescission proceeds and consider state-level remedies or contract terms as a supplement.
For Legal, Compliance, and Government Affairs Teams
- Watch the Federal Register for formal proposed rules — the Unified Agenda signals intent, but the actual rescission requires a proposed rule, a comment period, and a final rule before it takes legal effect.
- Expect legal challenges from farm advocacy groups if and when rescission is finalized, similar to the litigation that has surrounded P&S Act rulemaking in recent years.
- Monitor for potential legislative action; groups like the Campaign for Contract Agriculture Reform have signaled they will keep pushing Congress and USDA on grower protections regardless of the rulemaking outcome.
What Happens Next
USDA is expected to publish formal proposed rules to carry out the rescissions identified in the Unified Agenda, opening public comment periods where both processor groups and farm advocates will make their case. Given the divide between the National Chicken Council and Meat Institute on one side and the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Farmers Union, R-CALF, and the Campaign for Contract Agriculture Reform on the other, expect the comment periods to be active and the rules to face legal scrutiny however they are finalized. For now, the safest planning assumption for supply-chain professionals is that current rules remain in force, the payment systems rule’s effective date has moved to December 31, 2027, and the broader legal landscape around P&S Act enforcement is very much still in motion.
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Packers and Stockyards Act?
The Packers and Stockyards Act is a federal law that regulates the livestock, meat packing, and poultry industries to prevent unfair, deceptive, and monopolistic practices and to protect producers who sell to or contract with packers and processors.
Which Packers and Stockyards rules is USDA planning to rescind?
USDA’s 2026 Unified Agenda marks the Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity rule and the Transparency in Poultry Grower Contracting and Tournaments rule for rescission, while delaying the effective date of the Poultry Grower Payment Systems and Capital Improvement Systems rule to December 31, 2027.
Have these rules already been rescinded?
Not yet. Rescinding a finalized federal rule requires USDA to issue a formal proposed rule, take public comments, and publish a final rule. As of this writing, the rules identified for rescission remain in effect.
What happened to the Poultry Grower Payment Systems rule?
Rather than rescinding it, USDA delayed its effective date from July 1, 2026, to December 31, 2027, while the agency reconsiders its future — a decision farm groups have also criticized.
Who supports the rollback and who opposes it?
The National Chicken Council and the Meat Institute, which represent poultry and meat processors, support the rollback as a reduction in compliance costs and legal uncertainty. The American Farm Bureau Federation, National Farmers Union, R-CALF USA, and the Campaign for Contract Agriculture Reform oppose it, arguing it removes protections for farmers and growers.
What should meat and poultry industry professionals do now?
Continue complying with the current rules, since none have been formally rescinded; monitor the Federal Register for proposed rules and comment deadlines; and avoid assuming the payment systems rule is dead, since it has been delayed rather than withdrawn.
Sources
| Source | URL |
| MEAT+POULTRY — USDA to Rescind Packers & Stockyards Act Regulations | https://www.meatpoultry.com/articles/33777-usda-to-rescind-packers-and-stockyards-act-regulations |
| Agri-Pulse — Three Biden-era Competition Rules Marked for Rescission Under Trump Administration’s Regulatory Agenda | https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/24966-three-biden-era-competition-rules-marked-for-rescission-under-trump-administrations-regulatory-agenda |
| FoodNavigator-USA — USDA Delays Poultry Rule, Proposes Rescinding Packers & Stockyards Reforms | https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Article/2026/07/07/usda-delays-poultry-rule-proposes-rescinding-packers-stockyards-reforms/ |
| Food & Water Watch — Trump USDA to Rescind Meat Sector Competition Rules | https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2026/07/06/trump-usda-to-rescind-meat-sector-competition-rules/ |
| Oklahoma Farm Report — National Chicken Council Supports Trump Administration Deregulatory Efforts | https://www.oklahomafarmreport.com/2026/07/13/national-chicken-council-supports-trump-administration-deregulatory-efforts-including-planned-rescission-of-biden-era-packers-and-stockyards-rules/ |
| WTAQ News Talk — NFU Urges USDA to Reverse Course on Packers and Stockyards Act Rollback | https://wtaq.com/2026/07/08/nfu-urges-usda-to-reverse-course-on-packers-and-stockyards-act-rollback/ |
| Federal Register — Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity Under the Packers and Stockyards Act | https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/03/06/2024-04419/inclusive-competition-and-market-integrity-under-the-packers-and-stockyards-act |
| Federal Register — Poultry Grower Payment Systems and Capital Improvement Systems; Delay of Effective Date | https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/18/2026-05330/poultry-grower-payment-systems-and-capital-improvement-systems-delay-of-effective-date |
| Federal Register — Transparency in Poultry Grower Contracting and Tournaments | https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/11/28/2023-24922/transparency-in-poultry-grower-contracting-and-tournaments |