Pork Producers Push for Fair Marketplace

The area of competition has been a widely discussed issue at the National Pork Producers Council. Rod Brennaman is a farmer and pork producer from Washington, Iowa, and also serves as NPPC Vice President. He says that livestock mandatory reporting is a key tool for pork producers.

“LMR is what we need to have consistency in and consistent reporting. And if there is a time in government when it's up to the shutdown, producers depend on that. And we need to have the ability to make agreements accordingly. And there's got to be a way to have a price on pigs every day. And that's what we're working on.”

NPPC CEO Brian Humphreys adds that they will remain actively involved in any discussion pertaining to competition in the marketplace.

“We have always been engaged in every time there's a discussion around the Packers and stockyards administration or the jigsaw rules. We remain engaged in those at the end of the day. Our job as we speak up for American pork producers is to do exactly what Rob said to ensure that there is openness and transparency in the marketplace and a fair and balanced place for people to play and for the pork industry to operate in. And that continues to be our focus as we navigate through the proposed rules and have submitted comments on those.”

The first rule that USDA released addressed poultry contract growers specifically and as mentioned by Humphries the second rule addresses competition and market integrity under the P&S Act.