Contact: Michael McMahon, Land Stewardship Project, 612-722-6377

4/22/04
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Campaign for Family Farms (CFF) has called on the U.S. Supreme Court to let the mandatory pork checkoff program end. This week CFF asked the Court not to hear the pork checkoff case and effectively end the program. USDA and six state pork associations have asked the Supreme Court to reverse the decision of the Sixth Court of Appeals, which declared the pork checkoff unconstitutional.

Independent hog farmers and the Campaign for Family Farms have long argued through petition drives, a vote, and a lawsuit that the pork checkoff forces independent farmers to support a system that hurts them.

On Oct. 25, 2002, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Enslen ruled in Federal District Court in Michigan that the checkoff was unconstitutional. Judge Enslen agreed with the independent hog producers and CFF that the mandatory pork checkoff violates the U.S. Constitution and infringes on hog producers’ right to free speech. Judge Enslen wrote that the checkoff forces farmers to pay into a program supporting factory-style hog production and corporate control of the industry, and is detrimental to their interests. He declared that the pork checkoff was “unconstitutional and rotten."

On Oct. 22, 2003, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Judge Enslen’s ruling that the mandatory pork checkoff program is unconstitutional and should end. In ruling the pork checkoff unconstitutional, the Sixth Circuit rejected the USDA’s novel argument that the pork checkoff is a government program. The court found that the pork checkoff “compels [hog farmers] to express a message with which they do not agree,” and struck down the entire Pork Act.

USDA and the six state pork associations sought and obtained a stay of the Court of Appeals ruling, pending the Supreme Court’s decision. USDA is also appealing the Eighth Circuit of Appeals ruling that the beef checkoff is likewise unconstitutional. The Supreme Court will consider the petitions in both cases on May 13. The announcement saying whether or not the Supreme Court will agree to hear the pork checkoff case, the beef checkoff case, or both of the cases, is expected on May 17.

The effort by independent hog farmers to end the mandatory pork checkoff began in April 1998, when the Campaign for Family Farms launched a petition drive which generated more than 19,000 hog farmer signatures calling for a referendum to end the mandatory pork checkoff. In August and September 2000, hog farmers voted to end the pork checkoff by a 53 percent to 47 percent margin in a nationwide referendum conducted by USDA.

The Campaign for Family Farms is a coalition of farm and rural groups leading the fight against the corporate takeover of the hog industry and working for policies supporting independent family farmers. Current CFF member groups include the Land Stewardship Project (Minnesota), Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Missouri Rural Crisis Center, Illinois Stewardship Alliance and Citizen Action Coalition of Indiana. Farmers’ Legal Action Group (FLAG) represents CFF and the individual hog farmers in the lawsuit.

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