NPPC News and Information

FOR THE WEEK ENDING Feb. 3, 2012 Labor Department re-proposes Child farm Labor Law The U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Wage and Hour Division Wednesday announced plans to re-propose the "parental exemption" portion of its rules for child labor in agriculture. Concerns received from agricultural organizations - including NPPC - the public and members of Congress prompted the DOL to withdraw the original set of rules proposed September 2011, prohibiting children under the age of 16 to work in agricultural environments. Until the exemption is final, parental exemption will apply to situations in which the parent or person standing in the friend place of a parent is either a part owner of the farm, a partner in a partnership or an officer of a corporation that owns the farm if the ownership interest in the partnership or corporation is substantial. The DOL is expected to publish the re-proposed rule for public comment by early summer. To read NPPC's comments for the original rule, click here.

FOR THE WEEK ENDING Jan. 27, 2012 NPPC APPLAUDS SUPREME COURT 'DOWNER' LIVESTOCK RULING The U.S. Supreme Court Monday, by unanimous vote, overturned a California law that bans the processing of all non-ambulatory livestock, including hogs. The court said the state law drifted too far into federal jurisdiction over protecting public health and animal welfare. The law demanded non-ambulatory animals at packing plants be immediately euthanized. The high court was asked by the National Meat Association to find that the Federal Meat Inspection Act pre-empts the state statute. The California Legislature approved the law in 2008 after a grotesque video filmed and released by the Humane Society of the United States, showing non-ambulatory, or "downed," cows at a California beef packing plant being dragged and inhumanely prodded to enter the processing line. [The U.S. Department of Agriculture has for many years has forbidden the slaughter of non-ambulatory cattle for human consumption or other uses because of concerns over BSE, or "mad cow" disease. Pigs cannot contract BSE.] A federal district court judge blocked the California law, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco in 2010 overturned the lower court ruling. NPPC, along with the American Association of Swine Veterinarians and the National Farmers Union filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, arguing that the California law would create an animal health risk and criminalize the work of federal slaughterhouse inspectors. NPPC has pointed out that, after transport from the farm to the packing plant, hogs can become non-ambulatory from fatigue. With rest, the overwhelming majority of them will walk, and processing them poses no food-safety or public-health risk. To read the U.S. Supreme Court's decision, click here. HSUS 'FARM TAKEOVER BILL' INTRODUCED A united group of agricultural organizations, including NPPC, was quick to oppose Monday's introduction of federal legislation born from a 2010 agreement reached by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) with the United Egg Producers. H.R. 3798, the "Egg Products Inspection Act Amendments of 2012," seeks to legislate how egg-laying hens are housed. HSUS agreed to forego trying to pass state ballot initiatives that would set egg production practices and to stop 10 years of litigation against and undercover investigations of the egg industry in exchange for egg producers nearly doubling the size of their cages for laying hen houses. In addition to legislating cage sizes, the bill mandates new federal egg labels and sets federal air-quality standards for hen houses. NPPC opposes what it has dubbed the "Farm Takeover Bill" because it would set a dangerous precedent by legislating federal on-farm production practices. NPPC supports the right of producers to use production systems that provide for the well-being of their animals; NPPC does not support federal legislation that specifies how producers should raise their animals. To read NPPC's press release, click here. FOOD, AGRICULTURAL GROUPS BACK U.S.-EU FTA A coalition of food and agricultural organizations led by NPPC in a letter sent Tuesday to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) expressed its support for a free trade agreement between the United States and the European Union. Such an FTA is a likely option to be considered by a joint international working group on jobs and growth chaired by USTR Ambassador Ron Kirk and EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht. "Carried out properly," the coalition wrote in its letter to Kirk, "such an agreement would indeed generate economic growth and create many thousands of new jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. Of course, this would require that the EU be prepared to negotiate and implement the type of high-standard, 21st-century agreement that is central to the [Obama] administration's trade policy efforts," wrote the coalition. "Free trade deals negotiated by the EU with othe

A coalition of food and agricultural organizations led by the National Pork Producers Council expressed in a letter sent yesterday to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative its support for a free trade agreement between the United States and the European Union.

In a unanimous decision issued today, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a California law that bans the processing of all non-ambulatory animals, including hogs. NPPC hailed the ruling.

The National Pork Producers Council criticized congressional legislation introduced today that would prescribe cage sizes for egg-laying hens, saying it would set a "dangerous precedent" for allowing the federal government to regulate on-farm production practices, including animal housing.

FOR THE WEEK ENDING Jan. 20, 2012 NPPC SUBMITS COMMENTS ON EPA'S CAFO RULE NPPC, along with nearly 90 agricultural organizations, filed two sets of comments with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Thursday on the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) Reporting Rule. The first set was signed by a coalition of 88 national, state and local agricultural groups. The second set, submitted on behalf of NPPC and the American Farm Bureau Federation, directly addressed the various legal concerns the organizations have with the rule and the challenges the rule will prompt if and when it is finalized. EPA's proposed rule would require large livestock and poultry facilities to submit to EPA substantial confidential farm and business information. The CAFO database rule is designed to provide a clearinghouse for activists on the location of farms and was the product of a sweetheart settlement between the Obama administration and anti-animal agriculture activist groups. NPPC voiced concerns that producers will incur substantial legal liability and that in compiling the information, the bio-security of producers' operations may be compromised. Furthermore, NPPC believes the rule would provide little or no added benefit to improving manure management or protecting water. In December, NPPC Vice President Randy Spronk, a pork producer from Edgerton, Minn., met with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to discuss the pork industry's concerns with the proposed rule. PRESIDENT OBAMA OUTLINES PLAN TO REORGANIZE TRADE AGENCIES President Obama Jan. 13 outlined a plan to consolidate six federal government agencies and departments that focus on business and trade. The president proposed consolidating the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), the Small Business Administration, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency and the U.S. Department Commerce's core business and trade functions into a single cabinet-level department focused on trade and expanding market opportunities for U.S. businesses. Notably, the plan would eliminate USTR as a separate agency under the Executive Office of the President. USTR negotiates, enforces and administers the U.S. trade agreements program, as well as coordinates with different entities within the federal government, such as the Department of Agriculture, that have specialized roles in trade. NPPC is opposed to eliminating USTR as a separate, cabinet level agency. U.S. PORK EXPORTS ON TRACK TO REACH $6 BILLION FOR 2011 Export data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for November show that U.S. pork exports are on track to reach a record $6 billion for 2011. November also was a record month for exports with 217,000 metric tons (MT), valued at $598 million, exported globally. The 2011 estimated export value per pig rose 25 percent over 2010 to $55 per pig. In the first 11 months of 2011, the United States has exported 2,039,579 MT valued at $5.5 billion. Year-to-date volume exports have almost exceeded the record set in 2008 of 2,052,314 MT. These record numbers have been driven by strong demand in China, South Korea, Japan and Canada. USDA APPROVES BRAZILIAN PORK FOR EXPORT TO U.S. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) lifted the prohibition on Brazilian pork imports following 18 months of discussions over sanitary standards. USDA agreed to recognize Brazilian inspectors as capable of approving slaughterhouses in the state of Santa Catarina; so far, USDA has authorized six processing plants to export pork to the United States. In 2010, USDA recognized Santa Catarina as free of foot-and-mouth disease, clearing the way for processing plant approval. NPPC supports the principle of regionalization and does not object to the recognition of Santa Catarina as being free of foot and mouth disease and other swine diseases such as Classical Swine Fever. However, NPPC believes it

BILL TO BAN PROCESSING OF ALL NONAMBULATORY LIVESTOCK INTRODUCED Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., for the fifth time in as many Congresses, has introduced legislation that would ban all nonambulatory livestock from entering the food system and require that they be humanely euthanized. The "Downed Animal and Food Safety Protection Act," H.R. 3704, would amend the Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act of 1958. The U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2004 banned nonambulatory beef and dairy cattle from entering the food supply as part the federal government's comprehensive BSE ("mad cow" disease) prevention program. NPPC, which opposes the Ackerman bill, has pointed out that hogs do not get BSE and that the majority of hogs that become nonambulatory do so because of fatigue and, with rest, will recover. There is no food-safety risk with processing such hogs, and all non-ambulatory or fatigued hogs are inspected by USDA Food Safety Inspection Service inspectors and veterinarians for their fitness for processing and entering the human food supply. Banning fatigued hogs would create disposal issues and affect the supply of pork products in the United States, according to NPPC.

Pointing out that pork producers depend on risk-management tools, including futures contracts, to deal with the volatility in feed grain and hog prices, the National Pork Producers Council today urged Congress to bolster confidence in the futures market in the wake of the MF Global bankruptcy.

Written Testimony of the National Pork Producers Council On MF Global And Pork Producers' Futures Trading Accounts for the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry Dec. 19, 2011

NPPC VICE PRESIDENT MEETS WITH USDA, EPA CHIEFS NPPC Vice President Randy Spronk, a pork producer from Edgerton, Minn., Wednesday met with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson to discuss issues of concern to the U.S. pork industry. Among those were the proposed Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) Reporting Rule related to the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the National Air Emissions Monitoring Study (NAEMS). The NAEMS study of emissions from livestock and poultry farms was conducted by Purdue University researchers with EPA oversight. EPA intends to hold a series of meetings to explore how the agency will interpret the data and the methodological approach it will utilize as it converts the data into useable emission factors to help producers determine their compliance with federal clean air laws. EPA's proposed CAFO Reporting Rule would require large livestock and poultry facilities to submit to EPA operational information. NPPC raised concerns that producers will incur substantial legal liability and that in compiling the information the bio-security of producers' operations may be compromised. Furthermore, NPPC believes the rule would provide little or no added benefit to improving manure management or protecting water. In a related matter, EPA granted a 30-day extension -- until Jan. 19, 2012 -- to the comment period on the reporting rule. NPPC had requested a 60-day extension to the original Dec. 20 deadline for filing comments. For more information about the proposal, click here.

NEW GIPSA RULE ISSUED The U.S. Department of Agriculture Thursday issued the final rule implementing the 2008 Farm Bill provisions on the buying and selling of livestock and poultry - also known as the GIPSA rule. It is a significantly scaled-back version of the proposal that was issued in June 2010, including only provisions related to issues Congress asked USDA to address. The original GIPSA proposal, which NPPC vigorously opposed, would have restricted marketing agreements between producers and processors, dictated the terms of production contracts, required additional paperwork, created legal uncertainty and limited producers' ability to negotiate better prices for the animals they sell. The final rule, which becomes effective 60 days from publications, includes provisions on the suspension of delivery of live birds to poultry growers, sets limitations on requiring livestock and poultry producers to make capital investments to their facilities, requirements for remedying a breach of contract and rules on arbitration clauses used in contracts. A provision requiring the terms "undue" or "unreasonable" preference or advantage to be defined was not included in the final rule. While the final GIPSA rule is significantly improved from the original proposal, NPPC still is reviewing it for legal and economic impacts on pork producers. To read the final rule, click here.

A coalition of food and agricultural organizations today urged the Obama administration to work with Japan to smooth the way for that country's participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a multilateral trade agreement.

SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT SIGNS U.S.-KOREA FTA INTO LAW South Korean President Lee Myung-bak signed a package of bills necessary to implement the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) this week. President Obama had signed KORUS into law in October. In 2010, South Korea was the seventh largest value market and sixth largest market by quantity for U.S. pork exports, totaling 86,970 metric tons of pork products worth almost $190 million. Currently, U.S. pork exports to South Korea are applied significant tariffs of 25 percent on frozen pork products and 22.5 percent on fresh or chilled pork products. Under the FTA, tariffs will be eliminated on all U.S. frozen pork and some processed pork products by 2016 and fresh-chilled pork will be duty free 10 years after implementation with a safeguard. The FTA with Korea will create 9,100 direct U.S. pork industry jobs, add $10 to the price producers receive for each hog marketed and will be worth an additional $786 million annually. Korea implemented an FTA with the European Union on July 1, 2011, putting U.S. pork at a disadvantage with respect to competition from the EU in the Korean market. NPPC is encouraging the Obama administration and the Korean government to implement the FTA as soon as possible.

CONGRESS LIMITS SCOPE OF USDA'S GIPSA RULE The U.S. House and Senate late Thursday approved a fiscal 2012 appropriations "Minibus" bill -- funding the U.S. Department of Agriculture and several other agencies -- that includes language precluding USDA from writing, preparing or publishing a final rule or an interim final rule on the buying and selling of livestock and poultry -- the GIPSA rule -- unless the annual cost of any rule is less than $100 million. Last week, USDA sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget -- the last step before a regulation becomes final -- a rule that includes four of five provisions that were in the 2008 Farm Bill, with an estimated annual cost to the economy of $95 million. The GIPSA rule proposed by USDA in June 2010 went well beyond the five issues Congress included in the Farm Bill. NPPC consistently criticized that original rule, pointing out that it would restrict marketing agreements between producers and processors, dictate the terms of production contracts, require additional paperwork, create legal uncertainty and limit producers' ability to negotiate better prices for the animals they sell. The Minibus bill includes nearly $128 billion in discretionary spending but cut by $350 million discretionary spending for agriculture programs. The bill does include funding for agricultural research and extension programs at land grant universities. President Obama signed the measure into law today.

The National Pork Producers Council today welcomed Japan's announcement that it would like to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) multi-lateral trade talks. The TPP would be a regional trade bloc, consisting of Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.

SUPREME COURT HEARS 'FATIGUED' HOG CASE The U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday heard oral arguments in a case involving a California law that bans non-ambulatory livestock, including hogs, from entering the food supply.

U.S. OFFICIALS TRAVEL TO CHINA TO DISCUSS SPS ISSUES Officials with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently met with Chinese officials to discuss a USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service risk assessment on Chinese cooked poultry.

The National Pork Producers Council today praised the U.S. and Mexican governments for following through on resolving a trade dispute over trucking. Mexico today lifted tariffs on U.S. exports, including pork, and the U.S. government last week granted the first permit to a Mexican trucking firm to haul goods into the United States.

PRESIDENT SIGNS FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS WITH KOREA, COLOMBIA, AND PANAMA NPPC President Doug Wolf today attended the White House ceremony for the signing into law of the free trade agreements (FTA) with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. The FTAs, however, will not enter into force until implementation has been completed, a process that requires each government to bring its country into compliance with provisions of its respective FTA. NPPC is now encouraging the Obama administration and the FTA partner governments to implement the FTAs as soon as possible. The longer it takes to implement, the more U.S. market share in the FTA nations will be in jeopardy. Since the FTAs were negotiated, NPPC has vigorously supported passage of all three agreements, and hundreds of producers have visited, called and written their lawmakers to urge them to support the agreements. NPPC led a coalition of more than 120 agricultural groups in support of the FTAs. The U.S. pork industry was instrumental in getting the trade agreements approved, particularly the agreement with South Korea. Last December when the United States and the Asian nation were at an impasse over trade in autos, the U.S. pork industry agreed to move back the effective date for when much of its exports enter Korea at a zero tariff rate. The FTAs with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, when fully implemented, will add more than $11 to the price producers receive for each hog, generate more than $772 million in additional pork exports and create more than 10,200 direct U.S. pork industry jobs. MEXICAN CARRIERS TO CROSS BORDER, TARIFFS ON PORK TO ZERO Following last week's U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) issuance of long-haul operating authority to the first Mexican carrier, allowing the trucking company to operate beyond the commercial zones on the United States-Mexico border, the Mexican government today removed the remaining tariffs on 99 U.S. goods, including U.S. pork. In July, tariffs were reduced by 50 percent after the U.S. and Mexican governments signed a trucking pilot program agreement. Mexico placed tariffs on more than $2.4 billion of U.S. goods, including a 5 percent duty on most U.S. pork, after the U.S. terminated a pilot trucking program then failed to develop a program. NPPC has long urged the U.S. government to live up to a provision in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that allows Mexican trucks to haul goods into the United States. Recently, NPPC helped defeat an amendment to the fiscal 2012 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill that would have prevented funding for parts of the cross-border trucking program. Should Congress deny funding to the pilot program, the Mexican government has reserved the right to reinstate tariffs on the current list of products with the possibility of increasing tariffs and adding new U.S. goods to the retaliation list. NPPC also has been urging Congress to let the pilot program be implemented as negotiated. Mexico is the second largest market for the U.S. pork industry, which shipped $986 million of pork south of the border in 2010. Since 1993 - the year preceding NAFTA's implementation - U.S. pork exports to Mexico have increased by 780 percent. In the first 10 months since the tariffs were placed on pork, U.S. exports to Mexico were down 10 percent from the same period a year before, while Canadian exports grew by 64 percent. Under the new pilot program, Mexican carriers must undergo a thorough application process, including a safety audit before being approved by DOT. NPPC QUESTIONS NEED FOR EPA CAFO REPORTING RULE; WELCOMES OPEN DIALOGUE While questioning the need for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest proposed Clean Water Act (CWA) reporting rule for large livestock operations, NPPC applauded the agency for at least acknowledging the concerns of livestock producers and for offering options to address them. EPA's propose

While questioning the need for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest proposed Clean Water Act (CWA) reporting rule for large livestock operations, the National Pork Producers Council applauded the agency for at least acknowledging the concerns of livestock producers and for offering options to address them. EPA's proposed Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) Reporting Rule seeks to have CAFOs submit to the agency operational information so it "can more effectively carry out its CAFO permitting programs on a national level and ensure that CAFOs are implementing practices to protect water quality and human health." The information includes basic facility facts, such as contact information, location of a CAFO's production area, permit status, the number and type of animals confined and the number of acres available for land application of manure. The agency is considering one of two reporting options: 1) require every CAFO to report information to EPA unless states with authorized CWA permitting programs choose to provide it on behalf of the CAFOs in their state; or 2) require CAFOs in "focus" watersheds that have water quality concerns associated with CAFOs to report information to EPA. "We applaud EPA's alternative targeted approach to addressing real water quality issues," said NPPC President Doug Wolf, a pork producer from Lancaster, Wis. "This sets the stage for a more open dialogue among stakeholders over where these policies should go." The proposal was prompted by a May 2010 settlement agreement EPA entered with the Natural Resources Defense Council, Waterkeeper Alliance and the Sierra Club as part of a lawsuit NPPC brought and ultimately won over EPA's 2008 CAFO rule. The 2008 rule required, among other things, that large livestock operations that propose to or that might discharge into waterways obtain CWA permits. On NPPC's suit, a federal court ruled that the CWA requires permits only for operations actually discharging. Under the settlement agreement, which was developed without the participation of the livestock industry and was not required or ordered by any court -- and now the proposed reporting rule -- EPA and the environmental groups are seeking to undermine the federal court decision by reclassifying the CWA permit process as simply informational. "Our government is not supposed to operate through a process of secret settlements," Wolf said. "Pork producers decry that settlement agreement as the product of a bad and closed process that improperly attempted to make major policy decision out of the public eye, and this rule is a product of that flawed process." NPPC and other livestock groups raised concerns about the settlement, including its potential to undermine farm biosecurity that protects the safety of America's food supply, with U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who worked with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to come up with a rule that acknowledges the concerns and seeks public comment on them. Despite USDA's and DHS's intervention, the proposed reporting rule is still problematic, said NPPC, presuming, for example, that CAFOs, by nature, discharge pollutants and that, that can be proved through an information collection process. The EPA proposal will be open for public comment for 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register. For more information about the proposal, visit http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/afo/aforule.cfm.