ASSOCIATION NEWS.

Farmers have voted to kill the $48 million federally supervised promotion program that advertises pork as the "other white meat." Opponents of the program, which pays for research as well as advertising, say it has done little to stimulate pork consumption and mostly benefits meat processors and large, corporate farms. The fee requires payment of 45 cents for every $100 of a pig's value when it is sold. The money goes to the quasi-governmental National Pork Board, which contracts promotional services through the producers council.

Farmers voted 15,951 to 14,396 against the program in a referendum held during August and September. It was the first vote on the program since it was created 15 years ago.

Pork producers have filed for legal action against the USDA. The group includes independent pork producers, the Michigan Pork Producers Association and the National Pork Producers Council, which is partly funded through the program. They have filed for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction preserving the status quo and enjoining the termination of the pork check-off program until a full and fair hearing has occurred.