National Pork Producers Council Hires New Chief Executive Officer

The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) announced Bryan Humphreys has been chosen as the organization’s new chief executive officer, effective Dec. 21, 2021, following the retirement of long-time leader Neil Dierks. Humphreys brings with him years of experience in the pork industry, including as a former NPPC employee, state association executive and National Pork Board senior vice president, as well as outside the industry as a campaign operative, lobbyist and business owner.

“I am honored to have been chosen to lead NPPC as its CEO and continue..."

Pork Producers Lobby Lawmakers on Issues

Preventing foreign animal diseases, addressing a shortage of agricultural workers and reauthorizing a livestock price reporting law are the primary issues on which pork producers will lobby their congressional lawmakers over the next two days, during the fall Capitol Hill fly-in of the National Pork Producers Council. More than 100 producers from across the country are expected to participate virtually in NPPC’s Legislative Action Conference.

“These are critical but by no means the only issues of concern to U.S. pork producers,” said NPPC President Jen Sorenson, communications director for Iowa Select Farms in...

Waiver from Trucking Federal Rule Extended

The National Pork Producers Council today thanked the Biden administration, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Meera Joshi, deputy administrator of DOT’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for extending to Feb. 28, 2022, a waiver for commercial truckers from the federal Hours of Service regulation.

The HOS rule limits truckers to 11 hours of driving time and 14 consecutive hours of on-duty time in any 24-hour period and requires prescribed rest periods.

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and prompted by NPPC’s efforts to ensure pork producers could...

Vietnam Confirms Tariff Cut on U.S. Pork

Vietnam has confirmed it will lower its Most Favored Nation (MFN) tariff on imported frozen pork to 10 from 15 percent. The reduction is expected to be implemented on July 1, 2022. Getting better market access to Vietnam, a major pork-consuming country, has been a top trade priority for the National Pork Producers Council.

Late last year, NPPC Assistant Vice President of International Affairs Maria Zieba testified on the importance to U.S. pork producers of the Vietnamese market and urged the Trump administration not to impose U.S. tariffs on goods from Vietnam...

NPPC Applauds USDA Decision To Allow Faster Line Speeds

The National Pork Producers Council today commended the U.S. Department of Agriculture for allowing some pork packing plants to run faster line speeds, a move that could increase packing capacity and alleviate supply issues in the face of strong demand.

“We’re very pleased with USDA’s proposal to let certain plants run at higher line speeds, which will allow more hogs to be harvested and more pork to get to consumers,” said NPPC President Jen Sorenson. “This is particularly important now given the strong demand for pork, supply chain problems and our...”

NPPC’s Neil Dierks to Receive USMEF Distinguished Service Award

Neil Dierks, chief executive officer of the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), has been selected to receive the U.S. Meat Export Federation’s (USMEF) Distinguished Service Award. Created in 1991, the award honors outstanding figures who exemplify the exceptional dedication responsible for the red meat industry’s success in building global demand for U.S. pork, beef and lamb. It will be presented Nov. 11 at the USMEF Strategic Planning Conference in Carlsbad, Calif.

Dierks has served in several senior roles at NPPC since 1990, but noted that his initial interaction with...

NPPC Congratulates Rod Snyder on EPA Appointment

The National Pork Producers Council today applauds the political appointment of Rod Snyder as senior adviser for agriculture to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan. Snyder, a long-time friend of agriculture and the pork industry, has worked at the intersection of agriculture and environmental issues for nearly two decades, most recently serving as president of Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture.

The following statement can be attributed to NPPC President Jen Sorenson...

USDA Commits $500 Million For ASF Prevention

The National Pork Producers Council today commended Agriculture Secretary Vilsack for dedicating $500 million in USDA Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funds for prevention of and preparation for African swine fever (ASF), a pig-only disease that would be devastating for the U.S. pork industry.

The CCC, a wholly owned government corporation created in 1933, implements specific agricultural programs established by Congress and carries out activities under the CCC Charter Act.

“NPPC thanks Sec. Vilsack for providing additional funding for federal efforts to protect America’s 60,000-plus pork producers from this..."

AFBF, NPPC File Prop. 12 Appeal To Supreme Court

The National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation today petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take their case against California’s Proposition 12, which would ban the sale of pork from hogs that don’t meet the state’s “arbitrary” production standards.

The appeal to the high court comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in July upheld a lower court ruling against the NPPC-AFBF case. The appeals court found despite the organizations plausibly alleging that Prop. 12 “will have dramatic upstream effects and require pervasive..."

NPPC Commends House Lawmakers For African Swine Fever Funding Request

The National Pork Producers Council commended seven House members for requesting funding to protect the U.S. swine herd from African swine fever (ASF).

In a letter, the lawmakers urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to prioritize funding for USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to address a potential outbreak in the United States of ASF, which recently was detected in the Dominican Republic, the first time in 40 years the disease has been in the Western Hemisphere. Funds are necessary “to ensure that pork producers in our districts and across the country do not suffer the severe consequences of a potential ASF outbreak in the United States...

NPPC Asks Congress to Address Agricultural Labor Shortage Through Reconciliation Bill 

With a scheduled vote in the U.S. House set for Monday, the National Pork Producers Council today called on Congress to include in a budget reconciliation bill language to expand the existing H-2A visa to year-round agricultural workers.

Like many sectors of the economy, the U.S. pork industry is faced with a severe labor shortage. But even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry was having trouble filling jobs, a situation generally attributable to urbanization and an aging rural population. The tight labor market prompted the pork...

NPPC Urges Congress To Address Comprehensive Labor Reform

The U.S. pork industry is suffering from a labor shortage that could increase production costs and consumer food prices if not addressed through visa reform to provide better access to the foreign-born workers on which it depends, according to National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) President Jen Sorenson, who testified today before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

U.S. pork production is a year-round effort, requiring a hardworking and dedicated workforce on farms and in processing plants. Pork producers offer jobs with good pay and benefits...

NPPC: Court Ruling Undermines U.S. Pork Industry Competition 

A federal district court ruling striking down pork harvest facility line speeds allowed under the USDA’s New Swine Inspection System (NSIS) will lead to increased U.S. pork industry market concentration. The ruling, set to go into effect on June 29, will undermine what is currently a healthy level of industry competition as described in a paper recently prepared by two industry economists. To preserve industry competition, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) is calling for a longer stay of the court order or waivers that allow the six impacted plants to continue operating at NSIS line speeds until a long-term solution acceptable to all industry stakeholders can be established.

Competition, which has fostered innovation, job growth and industry expansion, has made...

NAMI and NPPC Urge the USDA and Congress to Address Port Challenges

With delays and congestion at U.S. ports hurting U.S. agriculture exports like meat and poultry products, the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) and the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) are urging U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Congress to confront the crisis.

The issue at hand is the continued behavior of ocean carriers to decline to carry U.S. agriculture commodity exports and instead return empty containers to Asian markets to fill them with more lucrative consumer goods to export back to the United States. Also, NAMI claims that ocean carriers and marine terminal operators are...

NPPC Campaign Showcases Pork Producer Environmental Stewardship

The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) introduced a multimedia campaign, “Farming Today for Tomorrow,” to showcase U.S. pork producers’ long-standing commitment to environmental stewardship and further reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“For more than five decades, U.S. pork producers have embraced advancements that have allowed them to do more with less,” said NPPC President Howard “AV” Roth, a hog farmer from Wauzeka, Wisconsin. “Hog farmers have an excellent story to tell and...

Anti-Meat Activist Poses as Smithfield Foods CEO on National Television 

Last week, animal activist Matt Johnson of Direct Action Everywhere, posed as the CEO of Smithfield Foods during a national television interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo. On December 23, 2020, Bartiromo thought she was speaking with Smithfield Foods CEO Dennis Organ. However, she and her audience were being misled. 

During the interview, Johnson blamed animal agriculture for new infectious diseases and made false claims that the Centers for Disease Control has data proving that the livestock industry would...

Meat and Poultry Industry Calls for Prioritization of Workers to Receive COVID-19 Vaccine

The meat industry is calling on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and state governments to prioritize essential meat and poultry workers, their families, and co-habitants, for the COVID-19 vaccine as part of Phase 1b of distribution.

Perdue Farms has offered resources to assist the CDC and states in this effort, recognizing that a successful vaccine program will require a partnership between government and private industry. Perdue Farms mentioned that many meat and poultry industry workers, including its associates, live in one state but...

Meat Industry Reacts to President-Elect Biden's Choice for U.S. Trade Representative

President-elect Joe Biden announced he will nominate House Ways and Means Committee trade lawyer Katherine Tai as U.S. trade representative. Tai’s career at USTR began in 2007 as an associate general counsel. In 2014, she was named chief counsel for China trade enforcement, overseeing disputes between Washington and Beijing at the World Trade Organization. She left that role in 2014 to join House Ways and Means and in 2017 was named chief trade lawyer for Chair Richard Neal (D-MA).

The North American Meat Institute supports the choice. Tai, who would become the first Asian American to hold the role of USTR, speaks fluent mandarin and has experience as...