On the heels of its annual meeting last week, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) spelled out its priorities for 2021 and beyond, focusing on worker safety during COVID-19, addressing labor shortages in rural areas, ongoing legal actions against California’s Proposition 12 and environmental issues.

Newly installed NPPC President Jen Sorenson, from Iowa, noted worker safety is a must, but struck out against plans by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to put in temporary emergency health standards at meat processing plants that would require 6 feet of separation between each worker on the line.

“We...