000838 Pork Producers Await Referendum

Fargo, ND - North Dakota pork producers say they are confident their colleagues will defeat an effort to do away with a national pork checkoff.

Producers across the country will vote Sept. 19-21 on whether to continue paying the checkoff, which was adopted by the industry 14 years ago. It sets aside 45 cents of every $100 of a pig's value when sold.

The money goes to the National Pork Board, which contracts for promotional, educational and research services.

Craig Jarolimek of Forest River, president of the National Pork Producers Council, sees overwhelming support for the checkoff.

“Most producers who are serious in this business and are hoping for a future are going to realize the checkoff is vital to that future,” Jarolimek said. “I think those who oppose it are a very small minority in the industry.”

Daryl Dukart of Dunn Center, the past president of the North Dakota Pork Producers, also believes the checkoff will survive. But he isn't as confident about overwhelming support in North Dakota.

“I think it's going to be close here,” he said. “Producers who have gone under in the last year are still eligible to vote, too, and they're the ones who may feel the checkoff dollars did not help them.”

Critics of the mandatory checkoff, which has been in effect since 1986, have blamed it for the loss of family hog farms across the country. They argue it unfairly benefits large farms.

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