Illinois Pork leadership attends National Pork Industry Forum

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Illinois sent voting delegates to the National Pork Industry Forum in Kansas City, which is a joint meeting of the National Pork Producers Council and National Pork Board.

Those who attended were: Mike Woltmann, district 2 director; Gary Asay, NPB director; Curt Zehr, NPPC nominating committee elect; Dale Weitkekamp, Illinois Pork Producers Association president; Phil Borgic, retiring NPPC director; Pam Janssen, IPPA current-past president; Alan Kollmann, district 5 director; and Jason Propst, IPPA at-large director.

During the meeting, Borgic was presented with a plaque to signify his retirement from the NPPC board of directors. He has served a total of six years on the national board, after serving 17 years on the IPPA board. While on the IPPA board, he held all officer positions, including president, and served on multiple committees.

In addition, Zehr was elected to the NPPC nominating committee, where he previously served as an appointed member for three years. He is the managing owner and operator of Zehr Farms. He is also a past IPPA board member and served as president in 2015.

While there, delegates from Illinois and Iowa proposed a resolution to support the reauthorization of the Mandatory Price Reporting. The motion was proposed to ensure that it provides timely, comprehensive and transparent data on pork and by-product sales.

Specifically, NPPC should consult with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on the following items:

1. Make the weekly USDA By-Product Drop Value — Hog (NW_LS446) mandatory.

2. Make the Carcass Cutout Value of the National Daily Pork Report FOB Plant — Negotiated Sales (LM_PK602) mandatory.

3. Include exported carcass sales in the National Weekly Pork Report FOB Plant — Export Sales (LM_PK640).

4. Include exported carcass sales in the National Weekly Pork Report FOB Plant — Comprehensive (LM-PK680).

5. Include all export sales in the cutout report.

The amendment was passed by the full delegate body without opposition.

The delegate body adopted other several important resolutions, including those that call on NPPC to:

• Strengthen efforts to prevent African swine fever — an animal disease affecting only pigs and with no human health or food safety risks — and other foreign animal diseases from entering the United States. Separate resolutions were adopted directing NPPC to encourage federal regulatory agencies to investigate the risks of imported pet food and pet products containing pork from foreign animal disease-positive countries; take a position on feeding hogs from plate waste; and support and advance responsible import policies to safely introduce essential feed ingredients from high-risk countries.

• Advocate for accurate and truthful labeling of plant-based and cell-cultured products, while supporting enforcement of fair labeling by the Food and Drug Administration and USDA. NPPC supports consumer choice and competitive markets. Plant-based and cell-cultured products designed to mimic real meat must face the same stringent regulatory requirements as livestock agriculture, including truthful labeling standards.

• Support reauthorization of and increased export data transparency in the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act, which provides information on the marketing of cattle, swine, lambs and products from those animals. Twice daily mandatory price reports published by USDA include information on pricing, contracting for purchase, supply-and-demand conditions for livestock, livestock production and livestock products. LMRA is set to expire on Sept. 30.

Delegates also passed a resolution reaffirming plans to increase the contribution rate of NPPC’s strategic investment program from 10 cents to 20 cents per $100 of hogs marketed, effective July 1, 2021.