Volume 21 | Issue 4
Ag Department highlights biogas project
The North Carolina Department of Consumer Services is highlighting the Optima KV biogas project in a social media engagement project targeting urban consumers in Raleigh and Charlotte metro areas. The project, the second of three videos funded by a Tobacco Trust Fund grant, aims to inform urban audiences about animal agriculture and it's importance to our state.

At the end of the video, Angie Maier, NCPC director of sustainability, sums the biogas project up perfectly:

"It fits in with the values that North Carolina hog farmers, and America's hog farmers have -- and that is to be good neighbors, take care of the environment and take care of the world around us."

Please help to increase the reach of this video by sharing it on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Or liking it on Youtube. Or you can share the blog post about the renewable natural gas project.


A recent poll by the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce shows that Renewable Natural Gas projects on farms have a high approval rating, with more than 70% of respondents in the supportive categories.
IN THE NEWS: California’s Prop 12 brings uncertainty to hog producers
The uncertainty surrounding California’s Proposition 12 mandating space requirements for all gestating hogs creates a costly and unknown path forward for U.S. hog producers and higher food costs for California consumers.

On April 14, the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation gave oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, asking the court to strike down California’s Proposition 12 as unconstitutional under the dormant commerce clause. Proposition 12, set to begin implementation on Jan. 1, 2022, imposes what they claim is arbitrary animal housing standards that reach far outside of California's borders to farms across the country, and bans the sale of pork that does not meet those standards... >> Keep Reading on Feedstuffs.com >>

Your response is needed for NASS survey on NC hog production. Deadline is this week.
Hog and pig producers may receive an important survey from USDA that help measure the financial health of swine operations. Responses to this Agricultural Resource Management Survey will help the industry better understand the costs and returns challenges of 2020. Producers will have until April 23, 2021 to complete this survey. For more information about this survey, visit: nass.usda.gov/go/arms.
 
To protect the health and safety of producers, partners, and employees, NASS has suspended in-person interviews. Producers can respond online or by mail. If survey respondents do not respond by February, trained enumerators will call to schedule a telephone interview to collect the data by phone.
 
The survey will include questions about the costs and returns of production, and also COVID-19 related impacts on production, loans or grant applications for swine operations, and loss of off-farm employment and unemployment compensation. Accurate information from producers will have a direct impact on farm policy.
 
Hog and pig producers are encouraged to complete these surveys to help producers and policymakers better understand the challenges facing the swine industry.
Upcoming NC State Swine Research Forum
North Carolina State University scientists will be presenting and discussing their latest swine related research on May 11. The virtual forum is FREE and designed to increase communication between NCSU researchers with swine producers and key industry personnel. A complete schedule of the event will be sent out in the coming weeks. 
Please reach out to Bailee Arnold via bestone@ncsu.edu with any questions!
More news...
The annual pork scholarship application is available. Any undergraduate studying agriculture at a North Carolina community college or university is eligible to apply. Deadline is April 30.
Two RFPs Available from U.S. Pork Center of Excellence
The U.S. Pork Center of Excellence is soliciting proposals to expand student exposure and interest in projects important to the swine industry. 
  • Swine Research and Education Experience – To expand undergraduate and veterinary student exposure in research and education projects relevant to the swine industry. Applications are due June 30.
 
Use code "PORKPROUD" for free shipping from the NC Pork Store any time!
Share your pork pride using #NCPorkProud