As the Give-A-Ham Campaign ended with the holiday season last month, Farm Director KC Sheperd caught up with the Oklahoma Pork Council’s Executive Director Kylee Deniz at the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Winter Policy Meeting to discuss its success.
“The Give-A-Ham promotion has really become a big ham deal in the state of Oklahoma,” Deniz said. “We had 565 plus hams donated.”
She clarified that the count is tracked through social media, so many hams that were given likely weren’t counted. Additionally, free pork lunches were provided at various locations across the state which amounted to 550 plus volunteer hours, more than 3,000 meals served, over 10,000 in monetary contributions, and more than 31,000 pounds of pork donated to the cause.
“We feel confident that we reached every county across the state and that is special because we have pigs in every county in the state of Oklahoma,” she said.
Deniz anticipates a busy year tracking bills in 2025 to ensure the freedom to operate for farmers, and supporting the thousands of youth who show pigs in the state. OPC will also accompany eight Oklahoma pork producers attending the Pork Forum in Florida to speak on behalf of the Oklahoma pork industry.
“Hopefully, our time in Florida will help move the industry forward in a lot of regards, whether it is the promotion, education, research of the Checkoff or on the policy side of the pork industry,” Deniz said.
Part of the OPC’s mission is to stand against misinformation about the pork industry and animal agriculture as a whole. “We, in animal agriculture, really need to refine our message,” Deniz said. “We are really good at talking to ourselves. We are proud of agriculture, whether we are a pork producer or a cattle rancher, but we need to share more with the public as our culture gets more and more disconnected from the farm.”
She spoke of a group that is determined to do just that. While it is still early in the planning stages, Deniz is excited to see the future of the coalition group coming together.
She said that the OPC is watching a lot of things involving what she called Trump 2.0. “We know things that have worked well under his leadership and things that are going to be problematic,” she admitted. “About 25 to 30 percent of our pork is exported in any given year, so if we are talking tariffs, that could become complicated pretty quickly; however, we know the Trump administration, and we are cautiously optimistic about there being an appreciation for the production practices and the science that we ground ourselves in, so we are excited about that piece.”
The OPC is accepting applications for summer internships and Deniz is excited about the opportunities for young people. “Our interns really go all in for young people,” she said. “When they join us in May through their time in August, we do things like Big 3 and biosecurity workshops. And we’ve been known to pull out costumes and do dance parties in show rings, so we really do love working with young people. We think of them as the lifeblood in our talent pipeline so we have several things that are propped up throughout the year where we get to connect with the younger folks. We love those opportunities.”
To check out those opportunities, youth should visit the website and follow OPC on social media. Deniz noted their presence at the FFA Convention, the Oklahoma Youth Expo, and Big 3. She also hinted at the possibility of an independent youth outreach event over the summer.
“Secretary Arthur and our Deputy Commissioner, JanLee Rowlett, worked to deem this year the year of Youth in Agriculture, so that is just one more reason for us to go all in on the next generation of leaders,” Deniz concluded.
