More than 70 producers were in Washington to attend the spring legislative action conference of the National Pork Producers Council. Producers visited their congressional delegations, urging their lawmakers to:

• Oppose legislation that would ban the use in livestock of certain antibiotics.
  
  
• Support passage of the Peru and Colombia free trade agreements, which would open important South American markets to U.S. pork products.
  
  
• Oppose so-called downer legislation that could keep as many as 1 million fatigued hogs out of the food supply.
  
  
• Support legislation that would clarify that manure is not a hazardous substance subject to the Superfund laws.

Producers also pressed for a Farm Bill that helps the pork industry maintain its competitiveness in domestic and international markets. Congress is expected to write a new Farm Bill over the next few months. The 2002 Farm Bill expires in September.

“There are a number of critical issues that will have a direct impact on our industry’s ability to grow, to be profitable and to remain competitive in the global marketplace,” said NPPC President Jill Appell, a producer from Altona, Ill. “So it was important to have producers in Washington, talking with their lawmakers about how public policy affects them.

“Our industry is dealing with a multitude of pressures,” Appell said, “including a new Farm Bill, animal-rights activists, EPA rules on animal feeding operations, the challenges of the rapidly expanding corn-based ethanol industry and the prospect of stalled trade talks, which could affect our exports.”

NPPC’s fall legislative action conference will be held in September.