Equity CEO Sounds Alarm Over Proposed 1,700% State Fee Hike

The state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is proposing changes to ATCP 10 and ATCP 12. These are fee increases for livestock auction markets, dealers, and truckers. Equity Cooperative Livestock Sales CEO Curt Larson comments on the proposed changes with Farm Director Pam Jahnke. He says the only way to collect these fee increases will be to pass them on to the farmers, which he fears will force even more producers out of livestock. In addition, Larson says the proposed fee increases are excessive and well beyond “ordinary and customary,” ranging from 205 percent to 1,700 percent. "The department must realize they cannot make up for the loss of shared funding simply by increasing the user fees," he says.

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