USDA has announced there aren't enough pork producers and importers that want a continuance referendum on the pork checkoff. The request for referendum was held Dec. 8 through Jan. 2 at county Farm Service Agency offices as a result of a settlement of a February 2001 lawsuit. As part of the settlement agreement USDA agreed to conduct a request for referendum among eligible pork producers and importers to determine whether they favored holding a referendum.
A referendum would have been held within a year if there was sufficient interest in a vote. Of the nearly 70,000 eligible pork producers and importers nationwide participating in the request for referendum, 15% would have been needed. But 96 participants and just 94 valid requests for a referendum was well short of the more than 10,000 needed to trigger a referendum.
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