At the Oklahoma Pork Congress in Oklahoma City, Farm Director, KC Sheperd had the chance to talk with the CEO of the National Pork Board, Bill Even, about sustainability in the pork industry and more.
The Pork Checkoff is currently focusing on three main areas on behalf of pork producers, Even said, including nutrition, sustainability, and ethics.
“The only sustainability producers want to talk about is economic sustainability, and that is number one,” Even said. “If you are not in business and you are not saving money, you are never sustainable over the long run.”
The issue around sustainability, Even said, is telling that story to consumers. Producers are stewards of the land, Even said, and they practice sustainability every day, so that message needs to leave the farm for others to hear.
Regarding California’s Proposition 12, Even said the California Department of Food and Agriculture is now tasked with the regulatory enforcement of Proposition 12.
“The National Pork Producer’s Council did talk with the state of California and delayed not imposition of Proposition 12, but essentially meat that is on the shelves in California here this late summer and this fall is still able to be sold because you need to make sure people have food to eat,” Even said.
The bottom line, Even said, is that Proposition 12 is causing turmoil in the pork industry, and many measures have yet to play out.
“The supply chain is realigning, and it is still a bit of an open question as to how people are going to adapt to it,” Even said.
The good news is that ground pork is not subject to Proposition 12, Even said, nor are any ready-to-eat meats in pork.
“Our ability to move ground pork, which is a very popular value item right now, is one way that we are looking at the California market,” Even said.
Even said, the pork industry also continues to strengthen protections against foreign animal disease. The National Pork Board, Even added, is working on putting renewed efforts on foreign animal disease as well as stepping up work on domestic disease.
“I think the next step, though, is there are endemic diseases in the pork industry, diseases that are already here in the U.S., that producers are looking to us to try to help bring the research forward to help solve them because when you are not making money, and then you also have a herd health problem, that is just adding insult to injury,” Even said.
Even also talked with Sheperd about pork exports and trade policy.
“The trade policy of this nation has been changing, and the trade access component that the National Pork Producer’s Council works on is becoming increasingly difficult,” Even said. “The pork board that does the market development work- we are really focused, primarily, I would say, in Latin America and Southeast Asia. Places where they are friendly to the United States, and we also have some existing free trade agreements we can implement.”
The Pork Council gave out several awards, including Excellence Awards to the following individuals:
- Golden Pig Award- Greg Stephens
- Ambassador Award- Jared Harshman, PhD
- Outstanding Legislator Award- Representative Dell Kerbs
- Excellence Award- Alan Mattson
- Excellence Award- Cathy Vaughan
