: The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) has spent $ 48,000 in mandatory
: member contributions to monitor groups that oppose the accelerating
: consolidation and concentration of hog farming.
The North Dakota Legislature was presented with a bill that would make it
some sort of crime to say anything bad about any agricultural commodity
(or something like that). What the sponsors wanted to do was to punish
people who would say bad things about certain farm products as a group.
Perhaps I didn't understand the intent of the bill, but it sure seemed
like a big-brother-esque attempt to silence people who normally aren't
taken too seriously in North Dakota anyhow.
The whole issue seemed pretty weird to me...