On January 3, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack spoke at a White House event focused on competition in agriculture. Garland and Vilsack expressed the shared commitment of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Agriculture (USDA) in “effectively enforcing federal competition laws that protect farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural producers and growers from unfair and anticompetitive practices,” according to a DOJ press release. Furthermore, Garland and Vilsack voiced support for strong whistleblower protections as a key element in policing unfair and anticompetitive practices in agriculture.
In connection with the event, the DOJ and USDA released a statement of principles and commitments. One of the principles highlights the agencies’ shared commitment to protecting whistleblowers. It reads:
“The agencies will jointly develop within 30 days a centralized, accessible process for farmers, ranchers, and other producers and growers to submit complaints about potential violations of the antitrust laws and the Packers and Stockyards Act. The agencies will protect the confidentiality of the complainants, if they so request, to the fullest extent possible under the law and also commit to supporting the strongest possible whistleblower protections.”
“The Justice Department takes very seriously the responsibility we share with our partners across the federal government to protect consumers, safeguard competition, and ensure...
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