At this year’s World Pork Expo, Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Intern Maci Carter had the chance to visit with the Vice President of the National Pork Producers Council, Duane Stateler. Stateler and Carter discussed Proposition 12, WOTUS, the pork market, and more.
“Of course, the Farm Bill is coming up,” Stateler said. “We’re trying to get that last of the three-legged stool passed for the Beagle Brigade. We asked for funding to get more FMD, you know, vaccines available for us, you know, to build that bank up.”
Stateler said there is a lot happening in the industry right now, from the Farm Bill to Beagle Brigade, and vaccines.
“Prop 12 is going to take effect in California July 1st, and I don’t know whether we’re going to really know exactly how it’s going to look until 11:59 on June 30th,” Stateler said. “We are working hand in hand with California because we don’t want disruption. As everybody knows, our markets are in a bad place right now, so we’re looking for a smooth transition.”
As pork producers did not receive the verdict they hoped for in terms of Proposition 12, Stateler said that NPPC is doing all it can to make this transition as smooth as possible. While it is still largely up in the air, Stateler said NPPC understands how tough of a position the industry is in and is hoping to make the best of this.
“This has been about 25 years since we’ve seen the market go, you know, depressed for as long as what’s been,” Stateler said. “We can’t go much longer at this because we’re going to start losing some producers, and unfortunately, the first ones to go normally are the smaller producers, which only leads to more integration, and the last thing that the general public wants to hear.”
Stateler said the state of the market is one of the biggest hardships facing the industry currently, and without a turnaround soon, things are not looking good down the road.
Stateler also shared how the recent WOTUS ruling has impacted pork producers. He emphasized that many people do not understand what goes into the sustainability cycle that is hog production, and this ruling is making everyone’s job much easier.
“It’s been was a major lift off our backs on the pork producers,” Stateler said. “This brings a little bit of common sense back to things.”
With a lot going on in the industry, Stateler emphasized that NPPC will continue to fight for what’s best. There have been many successes achieved, and some hard battles lost, but he said they will continue to fight to keep pork on the plate.
“As the Pork Producer Council, it’s our due diligence to see that we can work to prevent more things like Prop 12 that disrupt, you know, the system as far as for getting it on the plate,” Stateler said. “We’ve had a lot of major wins this year. We’ve gotten funding for the Beagle brigade, long-term funding for that, and protection for our industry, and some of those things, you know, have been overshadowed, but that’s what we’ll do.”
