Minnesota Pork Producers Association: Home

AUGUST Implementation of COOL from A to Z MPPA to attend Washington D.C. legislative seminar Spronk represents pork producers at forum MPCA Commissioner visits Martin County sow site Blogging with Brumm. Join the pork discussion! BRUMM SPEAKS OUT... FEATURES MARKET Weekly Hog Outlook By Grimes and Plain (August 22, 2008) NATIONAL PORK PRODUCERS COUNCIL NPPC Capitol Update (August 1, 2008) Because Congress is on a month-long recess Capital Update will not be published for the rest of August. The next issue will be distributed Sept. 5.

Implementation of COOL from A to Z The American Meat Institute has developed a website with information on the implementation of Country of Origin Labeling (COOL). Mandatory COOL goes into effect on September 30, 2008. The site contains information on who needs to label products, meat product labeling, labeling categories, record keeping requirements, international trade and frequently asked questions. Go to www.meatami.com or visit the USDA COOL website www.ams.usda.gov/cool
MPPA to attend Washington D.C. legislative seminar The MPPA and National Pork Producers Council Fall Legislative Seminar is planned for Sept. 16-18 in Washington, D.C. Topics for discussion during legislative visits with Minnesota Senators, Representatives and their aides will be corn and feed grain availability, free trade agreements and immigration. Representing Minnesota will be MPPA Legislative Committee members Kevin Barnhart of Luverne, Julie Becker of Fairmont, Kent Dornink of Preston, Rick Grommersch of Nicollet, Jen Holtkamp of Sleepy Eye, Paul Knudsen of Mankato, and Jake Storm of Dover. MORE

MPCA Commissioner Moore visits Martin County sow site The Minnesota Pork Producers Association hosted an educational tour for Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Commissioner Brad Moore earlier this month at a Martin County sow site. Also taking part were the MPCA Assistant Commissioner Paul Eger, Agricultural Liaison Wayne Anderson, Southwest Regional Manager Randy Hukriede and Southeastern Regional Manager Bob Finley. The group toured Center Creek Pork, a 4,800-sow, farrow-to-wean facility in Martin County. Center Creek Pork annually supplies 110,000 weaned pigs to area pork producers who co-own the barns and sows. MORE

Spronk represents pork producers at FarmFest forum The key words in today’s discussion are balance, demand and production. The question we need to answer is “How can we create a stable and reasonable balance for the demand and the production of U.S. corn? To begin, I want to clearly state the position of the Minnesota Pork Producers Association on renewable fuels: first – we are not opposed to the production of ethanol and biofuels. We believe energy independence is a necessity for this country. Our concern as pork producers is the availability of corn for use in livestock feed. In 2007, Minnesota pork production required 169 million bushels of corn. Nationally, market hogs consumed 1.38 billion bushels of corn. MORE