Pork producers are taking a gamble to get more money for lobbying and lawsuits

Looking for ways to fund lobbying and legal efforts to preserve their way of business, pork producers are turning down guaranteed money that could go to advertising and marketing.
Pork producers are feeling threatened by attempts to change the way they raise pigs.

So much so that they made the surprising move of reducing the amount of money they automatically give to the National Pork Checkoff – the industry’s fund for marketing, education and research – in hopes of having more money for lobbying and lawsuits.

Among the biggest threat they see is Proposition 12, a ballot initiative Californians passed back in 2018, which sets animal production space requirements for any pork sold in the state. The law would have major ramifications for pork producers throughout the Midwest who operate concentrated animal feeding operations, more commonly called CAFOs.