NPPC Highlighting Checkoff Program Results

August 21, 2000

Faced with an upcoming referendum on whether producers should continue to fund a pork promotion and research program, supporters are turning up the heat to tout what they say are the positive results the program has brought pork producers. The National Pork Producers Council says "aggressive checkoff-funded promotions" have turned the United States from the largest importer to the second-largest net exporter of pork, and the United States soon should grow to be the largest pork exporter in the world.

"Checkoff-funded promotions to market pork under the U.S. Pork seal have helped create awareness that U.S. Pork offers consistent high quality and wholesomeness," says R.H. "Moe" Mohesky, a North Carolina pork producer and chair of the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) Trade Committee.

"Export programs supported by the pork checkoff increase the opportunities for all producers," Mohesky said. "A study by the University of Missouri estimates the economic impact of foreign market development and world trade efforts boosted the overall income of the U.S. pork producers by more than $3.22 billion from 1987 through 1999."

Statistics compiled by the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service show that U.S. pork and pork variety meat exports, on a product weight basis, have increased almost 275% in the last decade. Last year alone, the United States exported 554,000 metric tons of pork and pork variety meats valued at $1.221 billion -- which included pork in the Russian food aid package. U.S pork exports have exceeded imports every year since 1995.

This is shaping up to be another record year, says NPPC. Pork meat exports were up 14% during the first five months of the year compared with the same period of 1999. Especially significant, NPPC adds, is the growth of the Mexican market, where U.S. pork meat exports are up 100% and Japan where pork meat exports have increased11% for the year. The value of all pork and pork variety meat exports is up 23 percent, exceeding $500 million for the first five months of 2000.

Also, the recent U.S.-China trade agreement should lead to even more exponential growth in exports to Asia. According to Iowa State University agribusiness economist Dermott Hayes, the Sino-American trade agreement could boost the value of U.S. hogs by $5 per head or more. "The position as the world’s largest pork exporter is clearly within our reach. We need to continue aggressively developing our global markets under the U.S. pork brand. Checkoff-funded export promotions provide the tools to make U.S. pork producers the No. 1 provider of pork to the world," says Mohesky.