CHECKOFF DEFEAT STIRS GLEE, IRE AMONG PORK PRODUCERS

More than 90 pork producers, industry scientists and other specialists gathered in Kansas City recently to review more than 150 research proposals for the National Pork Producers Council.

Committees selected 47 projects to recommend to the National Pork Board.

This was before Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman had announced the results of a major mandatory pork checkoff election.

Hog producers have voted down the mandatory pork checkoff, which provided funds to the pork council, by a 53 to 47 percent count -- 15,951 votes to 14,347 votes.

The turn of events was greeted by disappointment on one side, jubilation on the other.

"We are deeply disappointed and very concerned by USDA's regarding the pork checkoff referendum results," said Craig Jarolimek, National Pork Producers Council president.

Funds from the checkoff plan were used to create opportunities for pork producers, said Cindy Cunningham, of the pork council's office.

The 1985 Pork Promotion Research and Consumer Information Act created the pork checkoff to fund research, promotion and education programs to create new markets for pork producers.

Legal action planned

Independent pork producers, however, voted down the pork tax, claiming hog farmers were providing more than $1 million a week for the pork council to represent interests of corporate and factory farmers and meatpackers.

"The vote is in now," said Missouri hog farmer Rhonda Perry, a member of the Missouri Rural Crises Center and spokeswoman for the Campaign for Family Farmers. "And, we're demanding that USDA stop the collection of checkoff payments immediately."

While independent hog producers are pleased with the vote, the pork council, along with a group of independent pork producers and some state associations, will unite to seek an injunction to override the decision, said Cunningham.

The mandatory pork checkoff required a tax on every hog sold in the United States, roughly about $1 million a week.

The Campaign for Family Farms culminates a campaign started in 1998, with a national petition drive of hog farmers. The group submitted 19,043 signatures from pork producers in May 1999, forcing a referendum to end the checkoff.

More than 100,000 pork producers were eligible for last year's vote, which was counted Nov. 29, with results announced last week.

The injunction claims that there were some flaws in the referendum voting process.

Soybean group disappointed

American Soybean Association officials also expressed disappointment at the loss of the pork checkoff program.

Almost two pounds of soybeans are used for every pound of pork consumed in the United States, and a record 54.2 pounds of pork are consumed annually per American.

"This is a reason for personal concern," said Tony Anderson, an Ohio soybean producer. "Checkoff funds are used for market development, and if we, as farmers, don't promote United States products in foreign markets, somebody else will" promote their own products.

Missouri hog and pig numbers were down 8 percent last year, and the Dec. 1 inventory of hogs and pigs was estimated at 2.9 million head, down 7.9 percent from the same period in 1999.

Farmers in Cape Girardeau, Perry and Ste. Genevieve counties raise 15,000 to 18,800 pigs per county, but most other counties in Southeast Missouri raise fewer than 3.500 per county.