May 2000
Dear Independent Pork Producer:
Now is the time and the opportunity to end the mandatory pork checkoff. The mandatory pork checkoff, a tax on each hog sold in the United States, takes nearly a million dollars each week from hog farmers to finance the National Pork Board (NPB) and the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC).
In May 1999, the Campaign for Family Farms turned in enough hog farmer signatures to force a referendum of producers to vote to end the mandatory pork checkoff. The vote will be held sometime before the end of the year.
Since the mandatory pork checkoff began in 1986, it has taxed hog farmers out of more than $500,000,000. What have we gotten for our money?
The history of the vote to end the mandatory pork checkoff
The bottom line is that the mandatory pork checkoff is not helping hog farmers. That’s why we started collecting signatures in April 1998 on a petition calling for a vote to end the checkoff. Producers turned in thousands more hog farmer signatures than were required to force a vote on the checkoff a year ago this month. The petition we used was approved by Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of USDA and we collected signatures fully abiding by all established laws and rules governing the pork checkoff.
AMS spent nine months verifying the hog farmer signatures. Then, on February 28, 2000, Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman called for the referendum on the mandatory pork checkoff, concluding that AMS failed to show that less then 15 percent of hog farmers signed the petition. At no time did he determine, as has been wrongly reported, that hog farmers seeking the referendum fell short of the 15 percent required by law.
The fact is, we hog farmers met all the requirements of the law, gathered the required number of signatures, and now have the right to vote to end the mandatory pork checkoff.
NPPC is allied with corporate agribusiness
The NPPC continues to work against the interests of independent producers. At their annual Pork Forum this March in Kansas City, Missouri, the NPPC voted against the interests of hog farmers across the country on several resolutions, including:
Now is the time to end the mandatory pork checkoff
Producers voted in the checkoff 14 years ago to improve our profitability. Unfortunately, the only ones who have benefited from the mandatory checkoff are meat packers, retailers, and highly paid NPPC and NPB executive(NPPC CEO Al Tank and NPB Director Michael Simpson make nearly $270,000 in salary and benefits). Against great odds and huge sums of money, hog farmers successfully petitioned for our right to vote on the checkoff. Now we must concentrate on winning the referendum to end the mandatory pork checkoff.
The NPPC is going to do everything in its power keep the mandatory pork checkoff tax. NPPC president Craig Jarolimek told Feedstuffs magazine that the NPPC will spend as much as $4 million to influence the vote and keep the mandatory pork checkoff tax. We’re not going to let this happen.
Winning this vote is going to take the work of producers across the country. We need to keep talking to other hog farmers about the failed pork checkoff tax, writing letters to the editors about NPPC’s policies that work against independent producers, and encouraging other hog farmers to vote to end the mandatory pork checkoff.
If we’re going to end the mandatory pork checkoff, you need to fill out the form included at the end of this letter and return it to: Campaign for Family Farms, C/O Land Stewardship Project, 3203 Cedar Avenue So., Minneapolis, MN 55407. You can also e-mail us at marks@landstewardshipproject.org
If you have questions, give us a call at 612-722-6377.
The Campaign for Family Farms is a coalition of nonprofit, membership based, farm groups from seven states that work together on national issues to hold the government, private institutions, and agribusiness corporations accountable to independent family farmers. We work directly with other farmers from across the country on issues they are concerned about. The Land Stewardship Project is a founding member of the Campaign.
Sincerely,
Rodney Skalbeck, independent hog producer, Sacred Heart, Minnesota
Phil Wright, independent hog producer, Paris, Illinois
Mark McDowell, independent hog producer, Hampton, Iowa
Rhonda Perry, independent hog producer, Armstrong, Missouri
Gary Malone, independent hog producer, Palisade, Nebraska
Henry Hermstein, independent hog producer, Clarksburg, Ohio
Return to Referendum to End the Mandatory Pork Checkoff press release
Return to Land Stewardship Project home page
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______ Yes! I will vote to end the mandatory pork checkoff tax! Please keep me informed.
Name ________________________________________
Address ______________________________________
State _____ Zip__________ Phone ________________
Mail to: Campaign for Family Farms
C/O Land Stewardship Project
3203 Cedar Ave. So.
Minneapolis, MN 554057
Phone: 612-722-6377
Fax: 612-722-6474
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