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Hog farmers demand Ag Secretary reverse biased decision on pork checkoff vote: Hog farmers catch NPPC breaking pork checkoff vote rules; AMS OKs election fraud
CONTACT: Paul Sobocinski, hog farmer, MN, Land Stewardship Project, 507-342-2323
Dale Leslein, hog farmer, IA, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, 319-588-0657
Roger Allison, hog farmer, MO, Missouri Rural Crisis Center, 573-449-1336
Land Stewardship Project office: 612-722-6377
Iowa CCI: 515-282-0484
Illinois Stewardship Alliance: 217-498-9707
8/7/00
Washington D.C.— Hog farmer members of the Campaign for Family Farms (CFF) are calling on Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman to overturn a flawed AMS decision that attempts to change the pork checkoff vote rules in midstream. In the late afternoon of Friday, August 4, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of USDA caved in to pressure from the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), deciding to allow the NPPC to request ballots on behalf of their supporters, rather than follow the referendum rules which require each individual hog farmer to request their own ballot.
The Land Stewardship Project is a founding member of the Campaign for Family Farms.
In her statement, AMS Administrator Kathleen Merrigan says that the rules explicitly state that no one but the producers can request an absentee ballot from the FSA. "That's what she told us several times. But then she tells the NPPC they can get ballots for their supporters. AMS has one set of rules for NPPC and another for us independent producers. We demand that Secretary Glickman reverse this blatantly biased and incorrect decision," said Minnesota hog farmer Paul Sobocinski, a spokesperson for the Campaign for Family Farms and a member of the Land Stewardship Project.
On July 24, July 28, and July 31, AMS officials told CFF members that third parties—even the spouse or parent of another producer—could not request a ballot for another producer. During the same time period, NPPC was phoning supporters, and telling them they would get ballots for them.
"It is crystal clear what is going on. The NPPC knows we have enough hog farmer votes to win the referendum, and they're running scared. They're calling in every favor they have in Washington D.C. to keep the checkoff money rolling in. They know the only hope they have to win this vote is to lie, cheat and steal—but we independent producers are not going to let them win," said hog farmer Roger Allison, spokesperson for the Campaign for Family Farms and member of Missouri Rural Crisis Center.
Fifteen other groups joined the Campaign for Family Farms to demand that Glickman reverse AMS's slanted decision.
"From day one of the petition drive calling for a vote to end the mandatory pork checkoff, hog farmers have been fighting both the NPPC and AMS. It's been 2 1/2 years now, and they are not going to stop us. We are going to win this vote because hog farmers know that the checkoff hasn't helped them. It's a tax we have to pay that helps corporate factory farms and meat packers," said Campaign for Family Farms spokesperson Dale Leslein, a hog farmer and member of Iowa CCI.
The pork checkoff is a tax paid on every hog sold which generates nearly a million dollars a week for the NPPC and is the source for nearly all of their revenue. Later this month hog farmers will vote whether or not to end the mandatory pork checkoff.
The Campaign for Family Farms is encouraging all producers who have sold one or more hogs and paid the pork checkoff tax between August 18, 1999 and August 17, 2000, to call their local FSA office and request a ballot to vote in the referendum. Producers can request absentee ballots from now until September 18. Producers can also vote in person at their FSA office from September 19-21.
"Pork producers are going to vote to end the pork checkoff because the NPPC has proven they can't be trusted. For years, bona fide independent producers have been demanding that NPPC clean up its act and start listening to us. Instead of reforming their ways, they've become more and more corrupt. Hog producers are going to vote down the pork checkoff tax," said Campaign spokesperson Phil Wright, a hog farmer and member of the Illinois Stewardship Alliance.
Since the mandatory pork checkoff began, it has taxed hog farmers out of $500,000,000, hog prices have hit their lowest levels since the Great Depression, and 2 out of 3 hog farmers (250,000) have gone out of business. For more information on the mandatory pork checkoff referendum call the Campaign for Family Farms at (612) 722-6377.
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