Senator Ernst Honored with “Bringing Home the Bacon” Award for Standing Up for Pig Farmers
WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 16, 2026 – In recognition of her consistent legislative efforts to defend the livelihoods of America’s 60,000-plus pork producers, the National Pork Producers Council presented U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) the inaugural “Bringing Home the Bacon” award.
“Pork producers—both in and outside Iowa—benefit from Senator Ernst’s pure grit and willingness to never back down from the good fight,” said NPPC President Rob Brenneman, a pork producer from Washington County, Iowa. “Senator Ernst always takes the time to hear our concerns, and, most importantly, find solutions to help our industry thrive. We sincerely thank her for her years of service in the United States Senate.”
Senator Ernst has championed many pieces of legislation that have supported pork producers, even in challenging environments, including:
- Leading the “Food Security and Farm Protection Act” to prevent states from dictating farming practices past their borders and to avert a disastrous patchwork of contradictory state-by-state regulations that would hit small and medium-sized pork producers the hardest.
- Supporting the New Swine Inspection System, a program under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service to increase efficiency at pork processing plants while maintaining process controls and food and worker safety.
- Championing the bipartisan “Expanding Local Meat Processing Act” to grow local, small, and medium-sized meat-processing capacity.
- Bolstering foreign animal disease preparedness by ushering the bipartisan “Beagle Brigade Act” into law, which utilizes agriculture canine teams at U.S. ports of entry to intercept prohibited agricultural products that could carry foreign pests or diseases; and the “Animal Disease and Disaster Prevention, Surveillance, and Rapid Response Act” to increase resources to prevent, identify, and act on animal disease outbreaks, which was successfully included in the One Big Beautiful Bill.
- Steering efforts to expand U.S. pork exports through the bipartisan “Expanding Agricultural Exports Act” to strengthen USDA’s Market Access Program and Foreign Market Development Program.
NPPC President and Iowa pork producer Rob Brenneman presents U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) with the inaugural “Bringing Home the Bacon” award.
U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (center) holds the “Bringing Home the Bacon” award with NPPC board member and Iowa pork producer Trish Cook (right) and Sen. Ernst’s Deputy Legislative Director Trenton Hoekstra (left).
