Joy Philippi, pork producer and NPPC past president, testified on behalf of NPPC on market structure issues before the House Agriculture livestock subcommittee April 17 and on the 2007 Farm Bill before the Senate Agriculture Committee April 18.

• Allow to expire the 51-cent per gallon ethanol blender’s tax credit and the 54-cent tariff on imported ethanol to help ease corn supply pressures that are growing because of the rapid rise in ethanol production.
• Dismantle regulatory hurdles to allow pork producers to incorporate conservation planning into their operations.
• Increase EQIP funding allocations to pork producers so that they can raise the level of their environmental performance and address critical conservation and environmental needs on their operations.
• Oppose a ban on non-ambulatory or fatigued hogs from entering the food supply.
• Oppose a ban on the use in livestock of certain antibiotics.
• Oppose a ban on the use of sow stalls on farms that produce food animals that are purchased by the federal government.
• Oppose efforts to eliminate or mandate livestock marketing or pricing mechanisms.
• Support increases in funding for the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Program to boost pork exports.
• Pass trade agreements negotiated with Peru, Colombia, Panama, and South Korea and extend Trade Promotion Authority.
• Continue funding for government research related to the pork industry, including research on swine genetics, animal vaccines and animal productivity.

“As the next Farm Bill is written,” said NPPC Past-President Joy Philippi, a pork producer from Bruning, Neb., “we hope Congress will consider the needs of the nation’s pork producers.”