How the National Pork Producers Council Spends Revenue

The National Pork Producers Council – a tax-exempt, non-profit – 501 (c) 5  is an agricultural group established for economic self defense representing the mutual interests of pork producers, rather than a public service. If you’re wondering why pork producers need to establish self defense look no further than the way pigs and hogs are treated, and specifically how sows are put in gestation crates so they can’t move around…literally for years.  Pork producers may say they do this so mama pig doesn’t squish her piglets or to protect them from predators (as if humans are not predators) but the reasons have more to do with money, as Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times recently reported in “What the Meat Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know.”  Gestation crates are simply cruel (as our veal crates but that’s another story).

Pigs and hogs are confined in gestation crates (typically 2 feet by 7 feet so she can’t turn around) for the entirety of their pregnancy (roughly 4 months). About a week before she is due to give birth, she is transferred to a farrowing crate (equally restrictive) for 3-4 weeks until the piglets are weaned.  The piglets are taken from her and she is transferred back to a gestation crate, impregnated again and the whole cycle continues until she cannot continue and is sent to be slaughtered.

Mr Kristof wrote his op-ed not because he is a vegetarian or vegan (he isn’t) but because gestation crates are cruel and

“one of the great but incomplete moral revolutions of our lifetime has been the expansion of our compassion to encompass farm animals in a limited way, even as corporate agriculture pushes in the other direction. The stakes of the Save Our Bacon provision (which allows pork producers to continue to use gestation crates) added to this years farm bill that was passed by the House of Representatives and now goes to the Senate are enormous, for more than 120 million hogs are slaughtered in the United States each year. That is approximately equivalent to the human populations of California, Texas, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania put together and means that roughly four pigs are slaughtered every second, on average, around the clock.”

That’s why a 501 (c) 5 like the Pork Producers Council exists:  for the self defense of the industry to do what they want even if its practices are cruel.  Call your senators (senator phone list) and express opposition to the Save our Bacon provision.  Make no mistake, you can still have your bacon while supporting humane practices.

Interestingly, the largest pig producer in the US is Smithfield – owned by WH Group, formerly known as Shuanghui International Holding Limited, one of China’s largest meat producers – a Chinese company, since 2013 when they purchased Smithfield for nearly $5 billion.  While Americans are at odds on many issues, animal cruelty is an issue they generally agree on (Kristof points out that polling shows 84% of Americans are against containing pigs and hogs in gestation crates).  So, the question is why go against public opinion in favor of a foreign company being allowed to treat pigs inhumanely?  Some states – 11 so far – are fighting back by not allowing pork that comes from producers using gestation crates – to be sold in their state.  This does not sit well with the Pork Producers Council.

Key information about the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) is summarized as follows:

• NPPC is based in Des Moines, Iowa.
• NPPC has 45 affiliate state pork organizations as members.
• In 2024, NPCC reported total revenue of $26 million, most of which came from contributions, gifts, and grants ($17 million), trade shows ($3 million), membership dues ($2 million), and investment income/gains ($3 million).
• Expenses totaled $27 million with expenses reported to be compensation ($7 million), payments to affiliates ($7 million), travel and conferences ($5 million), public policy and communication – which appears to be fees paid for outside services like lobbyists ($5 million), fees for outside services ($2 million), and office expenses ($1 million).  In other words, NPCC spent most revenue on public policy and fees for outside services ($7 million), compensation ($7 million), payments to affiliates ($7 million), and travel and conferences ($5 million).
• In 2024, 45 employees received $7 million in compensation or an average of $156,000.  27 employees received more than $100,000 in compensation with the highest compensated employee reported to be Maria Zieba, the VP of Government Affairs who received $441,837.
• NPPC paid for first class or charter travel and companion travel.  How can NPCC justify first class or charter travel and paying for companion travel while promoting the use of gestation crates?
• NPPC has $36 million in net assets at year-end 2024.

To read the IRS Form 990 (2024), click here.