Supply and demand — two sides of the coin where the National Pork Board (NPB) works diligently. NPB shares updates on consumer marketing, animal welfare research and protecting freedom to operate.
New consumer marketing campaign driven by data
More people eating more pork — that’s the bottom line of the new consumer campaign, “Taste What Pork Can Do.”
“Taste and flavor are No. 1, always,” says David Newman, NPB vice president of market growth. “Then people consider, ‘Is this good for me? Is it good for my family?’ Finally, they need to know pork is versatile, that it’s something they can make quickly within their busy schedule.”
The campaign launched May 6, but the journey started more than two years ago, Newman said. He remembered participating in a panel discussion at World Pork Expo 2023, when producers were losing $30 per head and the industry’s eyes were being opened to the domestic need to complement strong export demand. Fortunately, the board had already begun collecting new domestic consumer data.
“We said, ‘If we’re going to make decisions, we’re going to make data-based decisions the same way producers do on the farm.’ We’re going to really deep dive into consumers and understand what it is that drives them, who they are, where they live, what they think about pork and what they think about competing proteins,” said Newman.
Growing domestic demand for pork is this campaign’s priority, according to the input NPB has collected from state pork associations, National Pork Forum delegates, processors, packers and U.S. pork producers. The data shows today’s younger consumers are a giant opportunity for increasing long-term domestic demand.
Instead of a blanket national campaign, NPB is focused on reaching more consumers in dense populations — California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan.
The campaign intends to leverage the cultural relevance of pork among diverse consumers. By harnessing the popularity of flavorful processed meats to capture attention, opportunities for fresh cuts also open, said José De Jesús, NPB assistant vice president of consumer marketing.
Protecting freedom to operate for nation’s pork producers
“Do good things and talk about them. The research we do is only as important as the communication about it,” said Frank Mitloehner, department of animal sciences director at UC–Davis.
The NPB is doing plenty of both. Stephanie Wetter, director of animal welfare for the National Pork Board, explained that most animal welfare issues reach the United States about 5-10 years after focus in Europe. The biggest issue in the United Kingdom right now is farrowing stalls.
“We need a proactive, producer-driven response to the issues that will be on their way from Europe,” she said, adding there have already been consumer campaigns targeting housing.
This 5-year farrowing housing research plan will examine animal welfare, economics, facilities and infrastructure, labor and environmental impact. It is designed to preserve freedom to operate by anticipating policy and market shifts and maintaining housing choice with defensible, credible data.
On-farm reports are another instance where defensible, credible data shine.
When working with regulators, Lauren Servick, director of public policy, strategy and sustainability for the Minnesota Pork Board, said, “On-farrm reports make me really hard to argue with, because I can tell them and I can show them.”
In sharing data, the NPB takes a multi-faceted approach to reviewing all of the existing research, filling knowledge gaps and turning that into useable information to fuel industry collaboration.
“We work to turn science into soundbites to share the good things pork producers are already doing,” said Heather Fowler, director of producer and public health for the NPB.
It’s time to get excited
Feedback in the industry is positive after a hard two years.
“Get excited,” Newman says. “Isn’t it time to have some fun? If you’re in farming, you’ve had plenty of bad news in your life. It is always too dry. It’s always too wet. The markets are always too low. They’re never too high. What we’re trying to do is take a little bit of that low side of that roller out of it, right? So get excited and know that we have to stay in this for the long haul to make it work.”
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