The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced the results of a pork request for referendum that shows too few pork producers and importers want a continuance referendum on the Pork Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Order. The request for referendum was held from December 8, 2008, through January 2, 2009, at USDA’s county Farm Service Agency offices.
The request for referendum was conducted as a result of a settlement of a lawsuit entered into February 28, 2001, with USDA and the Michigan Pork Producers Association, Inc., et al. Under the settlement agreement, USDA agreed to conduct a request for referendum among eligible pork producers and importers to determine whether producers and importers favored holding a referendum on the Pork Checkoff Program. If the results of the request for referendum showed that there was sufficient interest among pork producers and importers to have a vote on whether to continue the order, a referendum would have to be held within a year.
If at least 15 percent of the 69,446 eligible pork producers and importers nationwide participated in the request for referendum, a referendum would have been conducted. Of the 96 participants, 94 valid requests for a referendum were cast — far short of the 10,417 required to trigger a referendum.
For more information, including state-by-state results, refer to the USDA’s AMS web site.