Former House Speaker Tip O’Neill coined the phrase all politics is local. Essentially, legislative actions taken in Washington, D.C., have real-world ramifications throughout the country. As lawmakers are currently back in their districts for their congressional recess, now is a great opportunity to talk with them about the local impacts of two top U.S. pork…
October means cooler temperatures, pumpkin patches and Halloween, but U.S. pork producers know it better as National Pork Month. To celebrate the month-long holiday, HOTH is turning over its authorship to guest hosts to offer unique perspectives and experiences in our sector. This inaugural HOTH is penned by Illinois Pork Producers Association Executive Director Jennifer…
As pork producers adapt to life during the COVID-19 pandemic, they encounter more obstacles. From hogs backed up on farms due to ongoing bottlenecks in the supply chain, to the uncertainty of where the hogs will go next, some pork producers are barely hanging on. Many producers might not be able to survive the long…
The worst kept secret in the world is that China needs pork. The protein is a staple of the Chinese diet and a major element of the country’s consumer price index. However, more than half of the country’s swine herd has been lost as a result of African swine fever, a disease affecting only pigs…
As my summer communications internship with the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) draws to a close, I’ve come to deeply appreciate the perspectives on the pork industry I’ve acquired while in DC. As a student at Iowa State University, I’ve spent the previous two years in close proximity to hog production, celebrating pork through ISU’s…
Keep America First in Agriculture Handling images and media with the utmost care is a primary focus of the new editor. Hopefully, you’ll find aspects of adding captions or going full-width with your pictures much easier and robust than before. What is Gene Editing? Handling images and media with the utmost care is a primary…
Keep America First in Agriculture NPPC is launching a new campaign, Keep America First in Agriculture, to broaden awareness and understanding of gene editing’s promise for livestock agriculture. The U.S. has always been the global leader in agricultural innovation, but it’s running the risk of falling behind on an advancement that positively impacts animal and…
HOTH was disappointed to read a Washington Post story this week on a new pork inspection system under USDA consideration. The new system, one that has been tested and scrutinized for years, is designed to increase efficiency and effectiveness of the federal inspection process and to provide more flexibility for adopting new food-safety technologies. Dr.…
Two years after Californians in 2008 voted to outlaw scientifically sound housing systems for egg-laying hens, sows and veal calves, the state’s legislature passed a bill prohibiting the sale in the state of eggs from out-of-state hens raised in the banned housing. Now it wants to extend that prohibition to pork and veal. An initiative…
Thailand sends a lot of products to the United States under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which gives duty-free treatment to goods coming into the country. In fact, the southeast Asian nation is the second largest recipient of GSP benefits, with $3.9 billion of GSP-eligible products exported to the United States in 2016. The…