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On Oct.
22 the Campaign for Family Farms (CFF) celebrated a victory when
the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, affirmed a federal
judge’s ruling that the mandatory pork checkoff program is
unconstitutional.
The ruling supports the contention of the CFF, a coalition of farm
and rural groups that are leading the fight against the corporate
takeover of the hog industry and working for policies that support
independent family farmers. Since 1998, it has argued through petition
drives, a vote and a lawsuit that the pork checkoff forces independent
farmers to support a system that hurts them.
“Hog farmers voted it down, now two federal courts have decided
the mandatory pork checkoff is unconstitutional and is entirely
invalid,” said Hampton hog farmer Mark McDowell, an Iowa Citizens
for Community Improvement member and CFF spokesperson. “This
is a big victory for family farmers and for democracy in America.”
The pork checkoff program was started in 1986 after Congress passed
a law mandating that hog farmers pay into the fund, which generates
about $45-$50 million annually. Money collected under the program
goes to the National Pork Board. In recent years, most of that money
ended up in the coffers of the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC)
and paid for advertisements that supported factory farms.
The Sixth Circuit rejected the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
argument that the checkoff is a government program. The court found
that the pork checkoff “compels [hog farmers] to express a
message with which they do not agree,” and struck down the
entire Pork Act.
“This decision is vindication of the rights of independent
hog farmers, who have been fighting this illegitimate and unconstitutional
checkoff for more than five years,” said Susan Stokes, legal
director for Farmers’ Legal Action Group (FLAG) and attorney
for the CFF.
“This is a huge victory for independent family farmers,”
said Wayne Demmer, an Epworth, IA hog farmer member of Iowa CCI
and CFF spokesperson. “The pork checkoff has forced family
farmers to pay into a program that supports corporate concentration,
industrialization and the factory farm system of livestock production,
which drives family farmers out of business. The end of the checkoff
is long overdue.”
Although the ruling invalidates the pork checkoff, farmers expressed
concern Wednesday that the NPPC and the USDA will use the courts
to delay the end of the program and continue collecting millions
of dollars in checkoff fees.
“There is absolutely no reason to keep collecting the checkoff
fees – the USDA and NPPC should not ask for a stay, should
not keep delaying, and should quit collecting our money and let
justice prevail,” said Minnesota hog farmer Jim Joens, a member
of the Land Stewardship Project and CFF spokesperson. “It’s
over.”
The mandatory pork checkoff has been controversial among hog farmers
for many years. In 1998, the Campaign for Family Farms initiated
a national petition drive calling for a hog farmer referendum to
decide if the program should be ended. That led to a vote conducted
by the USDA in August-September 2000 in which over 30,000 U.S. hog
producers voted 53% to 47% to terminate the mandatory pork checkoff.
Following the announcement of the vote results in January 2001,
then U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman ordered the termination
of the program.
However, in a move that shocked hog farmers, the industry and various
members of Congress, President Bush’s newly appointed Agricultural
Secretary Ann Veneman cut a back room deal with the National Pork
Producers Council in February 2001 to throw out the results of the
democratic vote and force hog farmers to keep paying the checkoff.
This action led to the CFF’s lawsuit against USDA, which includes
a specific claim that the mandatory pork checkoff violates hog producers’
constitutional rights by infringing on the First Amendment.
CFF member groups include Iowa CCI, Land Stewardship Project, Missouri
Rural Crisis Center, Illinois Stewardship Alliance and Citizen Action
Coalition of Indiana. Farmers’ Legal Action Group (FLAG) represents
CFF and the individual hog farmers in the lawsuit.
To read the decision, go to: http://pacer.ca6.uscourts.gov/pinions.pdf/03a0373p-06.pdf.
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