Earlier this week, our staff at the Oklahoma Pork Council enjoyed an educational opportunity to meet with key decision makers from the Smithfield Foods Midwest Pork Division. Organized by longtime Oklahoma Pork supporter Conley Nelson as he leads his retirement transition over the coming months, the meeting proved to be a meaningful connection with one of our state’s largest pork production systems.
Conley, who serves as Midwest General Manager for Smithfield Foods, was joined by his successor Nick Gilliland who currently works for Smithfield Foods in Iowa, Smithfield’s Oklahoma Production Manager Travis Vaughan, and Oklahoma Pork’s newest board member Jaye Schuelke-Daily. All four of these Smithfield leaders shared more about their own backgrounds before Conley provided Oklahoma Pork’s full staff with an informative presentation on the Midwest segment of Smithfield’s business – including opportunities for stronger cooperation with Oklahoma Pork. Together, our four person Oklahoma Pork Council team then presented more about current work within all four of our organization’s strategic intentions and an update on the animal activists targeting pork production in our state.
Spending a morning learning from these impressive pork producers was time incredibly well spent for our team. Thank you to these hard-working folks from Smithfield for making the trip to visit us. We jump at every chance to better understand our members and better know how to serve each of your unique operations. If there are leaders in your own organization who would be interested in visiting with us about any of these topics (in Oklahoma City, at your farm, or even virtually) in 2025 – click here to get a meeting set up with our team! We love our role telling your stories and advocating for your farms, and we cherish every chance to learn from our members how to do that best!
