000520 Willie Nelson Attacks Pork Checkoff Program

West Des Moines, IA - On the road again, singer and farm activist Willie Nelson wants to end a program that makes pork producers help pay for industry research and advertising.

“This pork checkoff thing is something that's come along just to add more misery,” Nelson said. “We're already losing 500 small family farmers a week. But things like this just keep it impossible for the farmer to bounce back.”

Nelson, 67, is nearing the end of a two-month concert tour of the East, Southwest and Midwest before heading to Europe in June. He is also president of Farm Aid, which has given about $15 million to more than 100 farm organizations, churches and service groups in 44 states.

Hog farmers pay 45 cents for every $100 of a pig's value when it is sold to promote research and advertising - such as the “other white meat” campaign - in the pork industry. Producers began paying this kind of pork “checkoff” fee in 1986.

Opponents of the $48 million program say it has done little to stimulate pork consumption and mostly benefits meat processors and large, corporate farm operations.

In February, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman called a referendum among hog farmers to see whether the program will continue. The vote is expected later this year.

Mark McDowell, a hog farmer from Hampton, said farmers have been forced to contribute to the fund even while low prices have devastated their ranks.

“There's too much benefit going to the corporate producer,” said McDowell, who raises about 500 hogs. “They did a research project, they spent millions to take the stink out of large quantity of manure - that doesn't benefit a guy like me.”

McDowell said 250,000 hog farmers have been forced out of business since the checkoff went into effect in 1986.

Nelson, who is demanding a fair and open voting process in the referendum, said those 250,000 farmers “could swing an election.”

But Joel Van Gilst, president-elect of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, defends the checkoff program for helping fund critical research.

“It goes to promotion, research and producer education,” Van Gilst said. “The little guy wouldn't be able to do it by himself.”

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