Hog Farmers Launch Lawsuit Against USDA
Pork Producers Rally Against Agriculture Secretary Today in Iowa

5/14/01
BLAIRSTOWN, Iowa—Hog farmers are filing a federal lawsuit against the USDA to end the mandatory pork checkoff. Members of the Campaign for Family Farms announced the lawsuit this morning at a Blairstown rally protesting Agriculture Secretary Anne Veneman's first visit to Iowa.

"As long as the Bush Administration is going to force us to pay their failed and undemocratic tax, hog farmers and the Campaign for Family Farms will rally, protest and sue to end Bush's pork tax and maintain our democratic vote," said Jim Joens, a Wilmont, Minn., hog farmer and member of the Land Stewardship Project.

The Land Stewardship Project is a founding member of the Campaign for Family Farms, which led a successful petition drive to force a referendum vote of the mandatory pork checkoff. Last fall, hog farmers voted to end the checkoff by a 53 percent to 47 percent margin. In January, then-Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman announced that in accordance with the referendum, collection of the tax would be terminated. However, one of Veneman's first actions after being appointed by President Bush was to disregard the vote and continue collection of the tax on each hog sold by America's farmers.

Veneman's announcement to continue the pork tax has resulted in a hog farmer-backed lawsuit against the USDA. Earlier this month, a federal judge cleared the way for the filing of the lawsuit. The lawsuit will ask the court to force the USDA to terminate the checkoff. The lawsuit also requests that an injunction be put in place to prohibit the collection of the $54 million a year tax.

"This lawsuit is about family farmers fighting back," said Rhonda Perry, a hog farmer and member of the Missouri Rural Crisis Center. "We are confident that we have a very strong case, and that ultimately democracy will prevail."

Member-groups of the Campaign for Family Farms are the Missouri Rural Crisis Center, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Illinois Stewardship Alliance and Land Stewardship Project.

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