The pork industry ain’t playin’.
The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and more than 100 U.S. pork producers met with legislators last week to discuss three key issues: labor, foreign animal disease (FAD) prevention, and trade during the spring Capitol Hill fly-in.
These three issues are impacting U.S. pork production and will continue to in the future.
Held in person for the first time in two years, the NPPC’s Legislative Action Conference was a chance for the industry to lobby congressional lawmakers.
Employment probz: Producers asked lawmakers to expand the H-2A visa program to be year-round and include packing plant employees, as well as a way for foreign-born ag workers already in the U.S. to attain legal status. The program currently only allows for temporary, seasonal farm workers.
Test it, track it: The pork industry also urged lawmakers to appropriate approved funds for testing and tracking any foreign animal disease and requested funding to hire more inspection staff and support surveillance.
Trade was also a hot topic. The industry asked Congress and the Biden administration to join back into the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which represents 11 countries, 500M consumers and $13.5T GDP. Nothing to turn up your snout at there. In addition, producers requested that the administration negotiate a more ambitious Indo-Pacific Economic Framework deal.