Law & Policy Active Updated Jul 15, 2026
USDA's chicken farmer protections rollback
USDA moved to repeal three Biden-era rules that barred the country's dominant chicken meatpackers from discriminating against contract farmers and required more pay transparency, arguing the rules added compliance costs without benefiting farmers. Farmer advocates call it a rollback of hard-won protections in an industry where four companies control 60% of the broiler business. The fight is whether contract farmers keep any bargaining power as the repeal moves toward finalization.
The story so far
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Jul 15, 2026 Latest
USDA proposed repealing three Biden-era rules that barred chicken meatpackers from discriminating against contract farmers and required more pay transparency. Food & Water Watch attorney Emily Miller said the administration was undoing 'long-overdue progress,' while National Chicken Council president Harrison Kircher called the rules 'rushed, one-size-fits-all mandates.' Four companies, Tyson, Pilgrim's Pride, Perdue and Wayne-Sanderson Farms, control 60% of the $45 billion US broiler industry, which raised 9 billion birds for meat in 2024.
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