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USDA publishes final rules for mandatory pork checkoff referendum
Hog farmers in Minnesota and nationwide ready to vote pork checkoff down
CONTACT: Paul Sobocinski, farmer, Land Stewardship Project, Wabasso, Minn., 507-342-2323
Monica Kahout, farmer, Land Stewardship Project, Olivia, Minn., 320-523-1516
Larry Ginter, farmer, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Rhodes, Iowa, 515-493-2493
Rhonda Perry, farmer, Missouri Rural Crisis Center, Armstrong, Mo., 573-449-1336
Phil Wright, farmer, Illinois Stewardship Alliance, Paris, Ill., 217-884-2291
7/12/00
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of USDA released the final rules for the referendum to end the mandatory pork checkoff today. Producers who have been working to end the mandatory checkoff are ready to vote it down.
“We’re excited that the rules are finally out and the dates for the referendum are set,” said Campaign for Family Farms spokesperson Paul Sobocinski, a hog farmer and member of the Land Stewardship Project. “Producers have been working a long time for this vote and we’re ready to vote down the mandatory pork checkoff. Thousands of producers have contacted us in the last few weeks, telling us that they are going to vote to end the mandatory pork tax.”
The Land Stewardship Project is a founding member of the Campaign for Family Farms, which collected signatures from more than 19,000 hog farmers calling for a vote to end the checkoff.
Starting Aug. 1, producers can request an absentee ballot that they can use to vote by mail. Producers can request a ballot by calling their Farm Services Agency office, sending a letter or fax to FSA, or stopping by the FSA office. Mailed ballots must be received by FSA by Sept. 21. Producers can also vote in person at their FSA office between September 19-21. The ballot will read, “Do you favor continuing the Pork Checkoff program? Yes or No.”
To be eligible to vote, a producer must have sold at least one hog that they own between August 18, 1999 and August 17, 2000.
Although hog farmers are glad the referendum date is finally set, they see problems with how the vote will be conducted. Campaign for Family Farms spokesperson Rhonda Perry, a hog farmer and member of the Missouri Rural Crisis Center said, “These rules were made to order by the NPPC [National Pork Producers Council]. AMS ignored independent producers’ suggestions to make the referendum more open and fair, like mailing ballots to producers and allowing the hog farmers who called for this referendum to cast a ballot. They may have ignored producers’ comments but they are not going to be able to ignore our votes. Producers are going to end the checkoff.”
When Iowa hog farmer Larry Ginter saw the NPPC’s press release on the upcoming mandatory pork checkoff referendum, he laughed. Ginter is a Campaign for Family Farms spokesperson and a member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement.
“It says right here that the NPPC thinks the pork checkoff has been a phenomenal success at what it was designed to do. What a crock! The mandatory pork checkoff has taxed us out of a half a billion dollars, brought us the lowest prices of the century, and two out of every three hog farmers—250,000—have gone out of business since it started. If it was designed to hand the industry over to factory farms, then it’s a success,” said Ginter.
Hog farmers know that it is going to take a lot of work to win this vote, and they’re up against the NPPC’s $4 million public relations machine.
“Since the beginning, the mandatory pork checkoff referendum has been about the power of people versus huge sums of money and corporate greed,” said hog farmer Monica Kahout, a Campaign for Family Farms spokesperson and member of the Land Stewardship Project. “The NPPC and their corporate allies have tried to stop this referendum at every turn and they haven’t succeeded. In the end, the votes of independent pork producers are going to make the difference. We’re going to vote it down.”
Producers who want more information about the mandatory pork referendum should call the Campaign for Family Farms at 612-722-6377 or write to: The Campaign for Family Farms, 3203 Cedar Ave. So., Minneapolis, MN 55407.
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