INDUSTRY UPDATE OTA said it will continue to fight for the rule’s implementation. In December, OTA filed a lawsuit against USDA seeking judicial review of the Trump Administration’s delay of the production rule. The lawsuit is pending, and USDA must answer it by mid-November. OTA had said it anticipated a further “walk-back” from the Administration of the 14 years of work to improve and clarify organic animal agriculture regulations. “Any steps by USDA to unwind the changes to federal organic regulations are being taken against a backdrop of nearly universal support among the organic community, animal welfare advocates and consumers for the rules that USDA has now rejected,” OTA said in a statement. “We will continue this fight in the court, where a federal judge will now evaluate whether the Administration has wrongly ignored the laws that require consultation with the National Organic Standards Board and those requiring informing the public and providing consumers a chance to comment on organic policies before they take effect.”
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Livestock Haulers Granted 90-day Waiver The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has granted drivers who haul livestock a 90-day waiver from a regulation requiring installation of Electronic Logging Devices on trucks, a move hailed by the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC). NPPC requested on behalf of the US pork industry and other livestock sectors a waiver from the requirement for certain drivers. The organization also asked for an exemption from the regulation, citing the incompatibility between transporting livestock and DOT’s Hours of Service rules. Those rules limit truckers to 11 hours of driving daily, after ten consecutive hours off duty, and restrict their onduty time to 14 consecutive hours, which includes non-driving time. “The ELDs regulation poses some serious challenges for livestock haulers and the animals in their care,” NPPC President Ken Maschhoff, a pork producer from Carlyle, IL, said in a statement. “This waiver will give the department time to consider our request that truckers transporting hogs, cattle and other livestock be exempt from the ELDs mandate. Drivers transporting livestock have a moral obligation to care for the animals they’re hauling.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 132
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