Dennis Liljedahl, a pig farmer from Essex, Iowa, took over the reins as the Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA) president last week during the Iowa Pork Congress. Here’s an inside look at IPPA’s new leader. From what you can expect from Liljedahl as president to what’s on IPPA’s 2021 agenda, he shares his thoughts on the year ahead.
Q. Tell me about your farming operation.
A. I’m a third-generation farmer with a diversified operation in southwest Iowa near Essex. We raise corn, soybeans, seed soybeans and have recently transitioned from a farrow-to-finish operation to a wean-to-finish operation.
Q. How did you become interested in leadership in IPPA?
A. It’s a long story – but years ago, our local Extension director got me involved in a leadership program. We had pigs on the farm and I later became involved in our local pork producers organization. My neighbor, Curtis Meier, encouraged me to serve on the IPPA board and it just moved forward from there.
Q. How would you describe your family?
A. I guess you could say we’re a typical Iowa farm family. I graduated from Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in animal science. Both of our kids were in 4-H and showed pigs. My wife, Diane, is the support system for what we do. She keeps everything together and points us in the right direction. She handles a lot of the things that might fall between the cracks otherwise. My son, Drew, works on the farm with me. He attended Kirkwood Community College and then Northwest Missouri State University. He and his wife, Candice, live down the road from us and have a 7-year-old and 3-year-old. My daughter, Abbey, and her husband, Justin, live in Olathe, Kan., where he works for the Federal Reserve. She is a stay-at-home mom. She attended Iowa State University, as did her husband and Candice. We’re big Iowa State Cyclone fans.
Q. What kind of leader are Iowa pork producers getting?
A. I’m a quiet leader. I am thoughtful and I can see all sides of an issue (or certainly try to). I want to be a bridge builder and be known as a leader who sees various viewpoints. I think it carries more weight to listen first.
Q. What are some of IPPA’s goals heading into 2021?
A. One of the things IPPA is really focused on is foreign animal disease (FAD) preparedness – that will continue to be a priority. COVID-19 has taught us a lot about disruptions, so we know we need to be prepared for future disruptions and do our best to keep foreign animal disease out. In checkoff programs, promotion is a keystone as well. In addition, sustainability is important to us and trying to find available opportunities and possible obstacles or unforeseen issues that might arise for producers. With this new administration, we want to have a voice at the table on those kinds of issues. And finally, producers are always interested in markets and market transparency. IPPA wants to provide education for producers about available opportunities.
Q. As a leader, what are some of your personal goals and aspirations?
A. My personal goals are to do whatever I can to work towards the IPPA vision of “Successful farmers, enriched lives.” If we can keep that in mind, I’m sure that will take us down many good paths. We want to help provide the vision that can help our members avoid unnecessary challenges and to successfully navigate those that do arise. We all hope there is some semblance of normalcy this year. We thought 2021 was going to bring it, but it hasn’t started out as too normal.
Q. This is not an easy job for a busy pork producer – how will you fit it all in?
A. In our case, with the size of our operation and with my son being here, I am pretty well positioned to handle extra travel and meeting responsibilities. My son will have to cover more swine duties than he does now. On the crop side, we have some good people who help us in spring and fall so we are pretty well positioned to handle those extra duties.
Q. What’s one thing people may not know about you?
A. Most people know I’m a Cyclone fan, but they might not know that we like to spend time on the lake.
Q. If you could only accomplish one thing this year, what would it be and why?
A. If I could accomplish one thing, it’d be to help keep IPPA moving forward and remaining relevant to our members. I hope as an organization, that we can help provide more stability for producers in this challenging environment.
As IPPA president, Liljedahl wants producers to have a voice and feel like IPPA represents them.
“Mike Paustian left some big shoes to fill – he was very thoughtful and very intelligent. He did a great job leading IPPA. If I can be mentioned in the same sentence with him, I’ll be happy,” Liljedahl says.
Read more:
When Plans Change: Paustian Looks Back on 2020 IPPA Presidency
Iowa Pork Schedules Regional Conferences in February
