How Big Pork edges out small farmers

Exclusive: The hidden money fueling the pork industry’s fight to keep pigs in tiny cages

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September 11, 2026 12:30pm EDT

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Every time an American hog farmer sells a pig, a small share of the proceeds goes into a federally overseen fund meant to promote pork. It sounds innocuous — just 35 cents for every $100 in sales — but together those mandatory fees add up to nearly $90 million a year.

But where, exactly, does all that money go?

Kenny Torrella’s new investigation finds that most of it has ended up with the National Pork Producers Council, the industry’s powerful lobbying group.

His reporting reveals previously unreported deals between the National Pork Board, which administers the fund, and the National Pork Producers Council, the industry’s powerful lobbying arm. Kenny’s story demonstrates how these deals have effectively put millions of farmers' dollars into the hands of an organization that lobbies for industrial agriculture — even when many of those farmers oppose its agenda. That includes unpopular policies such as gestation crates, the practice of keeping pigs in tiny cages, often for much of their lives.

It’s a stunning feature that shows how a government-mandated program has come to serve the industry’s most powerful players and left smaller farmers paying for a political agenda that can work against them. If you value in-depth reporting like this, please consider becoming a Vox member. Your support makes this type of accountability journalism possible.

—Paige Vega, editorial director