September 9, 2022

FTC Chair Submits Comments on Proposed Poultry Farming Rules

Lori Kalani, Bernard Nash

Cozen O'Connor

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Cozen O'Connor

FTC Chair Lina Khan submitted a comment letter in support of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) proposed rule on transparency in poultry grower contracting and tournaments, which would require poultry corporations to more transparently disclose information that growers need to make informed decisions about their contracts.
In her comment letter, Chairwoman Khan asserted that additional rulemaking is needed to specifically prohibit and limit deceptive, unfair, and discriminatory contract terms and business practices in the poultry industry, alleging that the poultry sector has become increasingly concentrated in recent years and that the remaining poultry companies have an outsized influence over the price, quantity, and details of growers’ operations.
In addition to the USDA’s proposed transparency rule, Khan suggested the agency consider imposing specific prohibitions and limitations on deceptive, unfair, and discriminatory contract terms and business practices, and provided examples of how the FTC has tried to regulate and enforce against unfairness in other industries, arguing that the USDA could apply broadly similar reasoning to justify restrictions on unfair contract terms in the poultry sector through additional rulemaking.

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