Competition EO: Initiatives Targeting The Agriculture Industry

On July 9, 2021, President Biden issued the Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy (the "Order") and the White House's Fact Sheet, intended to promote competition and update regulations to combat anticompetitive practices. Included in the Order are several directives to address the Biden administration's concerns about reduced competition in the agricultural industry, calling for sweeping updates to a key enforcement mechanism in the agricultural industry, the Packers and Stockyard Act of 1921. The Order directs the secretary of agriculture to create rules that increase farmers' access to the market to sell their products, clarify country-of-origin requirements for agricultural products, create whistleblower protections for reporting certain business practices of agricultural processors, and strengthen farmers' ability to repair their tractors at independent repair shops.