Following my exclusive investigative reporting and advocacy, Senator Joni Ernst’s latest attempt to attach her pro-Communist China, anti-American “Save Our Bacon Act” (SOB) language to the 2026 Farm Bill went down in flames just hours after the National Pork Producers Council lobbying group conspicuously honored her with its inaugural “Bringing Home the Bacon” Congressional award.
At the September 16, 2026, Senate Agriculture Committee meeting to advance the Farm Bill, Chairman John Boozman attempted to begin the vote, but Ernst repeatedly interrupted and demanded consideration of her widely-opposed, toxic amendment to overturn U.S. state laws and disenfranchise American voters to benefit China-owned pork giant Smithfield Foods.
Boozman and the Committee shut down Ernst’s desperate amendment attempt and advanced the Farm Bill on a 12–11 party-line vote, sending it to the full Senate.
Ernst had a full-blown meltdown when her last-ditch effort to give the CCP and China’s President Xi a gift in the form of the SOB Act before his highly controversial state visit with President Trump in DC next week.
Just hours before Ernst’s embarrassing performance in the Farm Bill markup, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) literally gave her their “Bringing Home the Bacon” Congressional Award, in apparent anticipation of an SOB Act win in the Farm bill that they didn’t ultimately get.
The same-day award places renewed attention on Ernst’s cozy relationship with NPPC and China-owned Smithfield Foods, whose PACs have both donated to Ernst’s campaigns. Two current NPPC directors work for China-owned Smithfield Hog Production, a major U.S. pork producer owned by the China-based WH Group, according to biographies on NPPC’s own website.
Those two individuals serving on the NPPC Board of Directors are:
Robert “R.O.” Britt (Williamsburg, Virginia) – Elected to the board for the 2026–2027 term, he works as the manager of environmental affairs for Smithfield Hog Production.
Neill Westerbeek (Warsaw, North Carolina) – Elected to the board in 2024, he works as the Business & Grower Process Improvement Manager for Smithfield Hog Production.
As Loomered recently reported, for years, Smithfield’s federal disclosures for lobbying on SOB Act-related issues, the Farm Bill, and foreign ownership of farmland have violated federal lobbying disclosure rules by hiding the fact that the company is owned by China’s 万洲国际 (WH Group) 万洲国际, which is literally run by Wan Long, a former PLA soldier and members of the CCP. Long is an active member of the Chinese Communist Party.
Following a recent federal complaint, Smithfield’s lobbyist amended their disclosure to identify 万洲国际 (WH Group) as a foreign entity benefiting from the lobbying.
After Loomered’s recent viral investigation, Smithfield flip-flopped yet again and quietly removed mention of their Chinese owner from their lobbying disclosure form, which alarmed China hawks in the US Senate like Florida Senator Rick Scott.
The Senate Agriculture Committee’s defeat of Ernst’s attempt to sneak her SOB Act into the Farm Bill is not necessarily the end of the fight. She is already signaling that she may try again when the Farm Bill reaches the Senate floor after the November midterm elections.
Stay tuned. This is a developing story.
