Rally 'Round the Farm!

Family owned pork farms are under attack! Activist groups want to put us out of business. NC Farm Families is fighting back.

Join us this Wednesday for a rally!

Wednesday, July 15th

 6:30pm-8:00pm

Supper served @ 6:30

Program starts @ 7:00
 

Keynote Speaker: Steve Troxler, 

NC Commissioner of Agriculture

Duplin Events Center

195 Fairgrounds Drive

Kenansville, NC 28349 

NCPC in the News

New Bern Sun Journal, July 12, 2015

Deborah Johnson: Flawed research used to attack farm families

 North Carolina's hog farmers are often the victims of highly subjective and unfair criticisms. Many are put into motion by activists who strive to advance a political agenda in an effort to harm, even cripple, the state's pork production industry, without regard to consequences. Keep reading...

Raleigh News & Observer, July 8, 2015

Kerr T. (Tommy) Stevens: Attack on hog farms based on flawed research

 Regarding the July 2 Point of View "How new tests prove hog, poultry pollution of NC waters": The writers claim that new tests "prove" pollution by hog farms. They cited as evidence a recent study conducted for the U.S. Geological Survey by researcher Stephen L. Harden. But the study doesn't support the authors' allegations.  Keep reading...

Raleigh News & Observer, July 9, 2015

NC pork lobby objects to Duke Energy swine waste proposal

 Duke Energy's proposal to use Midwestern pig manure toward the power company's renewable goals in North Carolina is raising a stink from the state's powerful pork lobby. Keep reading...

Raleigh News & Observer, July 6, 2015

NC pork industry: Don't kill state's renewable energy mandate

 North Carolina's pork producers are urging state lawmakers not to tinker with a 2007 renewable energy law that requires electric utilities to tap hog manure as a fuel source to generate electricity. Keep reading...

NPPC Files Joint Lawsuit to Stop "Waters of the United States" Rule

National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) - along with 13 other organizations - filed a lawsuit on July 2, 2015, asking a federal court to vacate a new Clean Water Act (CWA) regulation that will bring under federal jurisdiction "a staggering range" of land and water and adversely affect numerous agricultural and business activities. 

 The final "Waters of the United States" (WOTUS) rule was issued May 27, 2015, by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ostensibly to clarify the agencies' authority under the CWA over various waters. Currently, that jurisdiction - based on several U.S. Supreme Court decisions - includes "navigable" waters and waters with a significant hydrologic connection to navigable waters. The WOTUS rule would broaden that to include, among other water bodies, upstream waters and intermittent and ephemeral streams such as the kind farmers use for drainage and irrigation. It also would encompass lands adjacent to such waters. In their suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas against EPA and the Corps of Engineers, the agricultural and business groups said the final rule "bears no connection" to the CWA and violates provisions of the U.S. Constitution. Similar lawsuits have been filed by the attorneys general of 27 states. 

 NPPC also is backing bills now making their way through Congress that would require EPA and the Corps of Engineers to withdraw the WOTUS rule and to work with affected parties, including farmers, on a new regulation. 

Animal Ag Gets Waiver from "Hours of Service" Rule

America's hog, cattle and poultry farmers have been granted a two-year waiver from the U.S. Department of Transportation hours-of-service rule for certain drivers. 

The rule, issued in mid-2013 by DOT's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), requires truck drivers to take a 30-minute rest break for every eight hours of service. It would have prohibited drivers hauling livestock and poultry from caring for animals during the rest period.

NPPC, on behalf of other livestock, poultry and food organizations, in 2013 petitioned the FMCSA for a waiver and exemption from complying with the regulation. The groups this spring asked the FMCSA to renew the waiver and to extend it for the two-year maximum allowable under federal law.

In petitioning the agency, the livestock organizations noted that the rule would cause livestock producers irreparable harm, place the health and welfare of the livestock in their care at risk and provide no apparent increased benefit to public safety.

The groups also pointed that the livestock and poultry industries have programs - such as pork's Transport Quality Assurance program - that educate drivers on transportation safety and animal welfare. 

Public Notice by NC Pork Council and the National Pork Board

The election of pork producer delegate candidates for the 2016 National Pork Producers (Pork Act) Delegate Body will take place at 1:00 p.m., Wednesday, August 5, 2015, in conjunction with a Board of Directors meeting of the NC Pork Council in the NC Farm Bureau Conference Center, 5301 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC. All NC pork producers are invited to attend.

Any producer, age 18 or older, who is a resident of the state and has paid all assessments due may be considered as a delegate candidate and/or participate in the election. All eligible producers are encouraged to bring with them a sales receipt proving that hogs were sold in their name and the checkoff deducted. For more information, contact the NC Pork Council, 2300 Rexwoods Drive, Suite 340, Raleigh, NC 27607, telephone 919-781-0361. 

Calendar of Events 

August 18 - 11^th Annual Commissioner's Food Safety Forum - 9:00 am - 12:30 pm in the Expo Building at the NC State Fairgrounds.

Check website, www.ncagr.gov/ncfoodsafetyforum for updates on the agenda and registration.

September 18 - Pork Chop Open at River Landing. (NCPC PAC members only event.)