Three pork processors are pressing the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to grant a motion to intervene that would allow them to argue before the court that they should be allowed to maintain faster processing line speeds, according to court documents filed this week.
“Eighth Circuit courts will see a ‘rash’ of early intervention motions unless the court reverses a ruling shutting pork producers out of a union challenge that nixed a Trump-era rule lifting production speed caps, according to producers arguing that a certain exception to production limits survived the vacatur,” reports Law360.
A Minnesota federal district court ruling struck down a part of the USDA rule about faster harvest facility inspection speeds allowed by the USDA’s New Swine Inspection System (NSIS) and went into effect June 30. Pork industry groups urged the Biden administration to appeal this ruling that the National Pork Producers Council said will quickly lead to increased pork industry concentration and packer market power.
The three pork processors who filed a motion to intervene in the litigation -- Quality Pork Processors, WholeStone Farms Cooperative, and Clemens Food Group -- believe their interests should be protected because they had operated under faster line speeds for 20 years under a prior USDA pilot program, Law360 reports.
When the district court denied their motion to intervene in May, the judge found the request to be untimely. U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen said the producers should have known sooner about their claimed need to intervene and rejected their motion.
The pork processors believe this determination of untimeliness is “incorrect” and are asking the appeals court to reverse the lower court’s decision and grant time for an oral argument.
“If intervenors move early in a case, the motion will be denied because their interests are being adequately represented by the existing parties,” the producers said in a Law360 article. “But if intervenors wait until developments reveal a divergence in interests, the motion will be denied because they should have moved earlier.”
The ruling meant pork plants had to return to a maximum line speed of 1,106 head per hour. The companies argue that USDA declined to seek a ruling on the pilot program, leaving their interests unrepresented.
More from Farm Journal’s PORK:
Pork Industry Loses Appeal on Line Speeds
Pork Industry Seeks Waivers for Plants Impacted by Line Speed Ruling
The Reality of Slower Line Speeds
Federal Court Removes Swine Slaughter Line Speed Provision
Slower Line Speeds in Effect at Six Pork Processing Plants
Pork Industry Seeks Waivers for Plants Impacted by Line Speed Ruling
