Doggedly Optimistic: What Iowa Pork Producers Heard in Des Moines
The hallway chatter is what makes events like the Iowa Pork Congress so meaningful for pig farmers. The friendly handshakes, meetings and demonstrations, knowledgeable speaker insights and those invaluable conversations during it all bring pork producers from Iowa and beyond back year after year for one of the largest winter shows in the industry.
Despite coming off what some call the worst year ever for pork producers, producers left motivated and hopeful regardless of the hard topics they discussed. Here’s a look at what some producers had to say about the conversations they heard at this year’s event.
“My biggest takeaway was that even though pork producers are coming off a tough year financially, everyone I spoke to was excited about the future of the industry. They wanted to talk about how we can continue to make improvements in everything from foreign animal disease preparedness to traceability to genetics. It is inspiring to be around producers who are so doggedly optimistic and always striving to improve their operations.” – Mike Paustian, a pork producer from Walcott, Iowa
“Iowa Pork Congress is a great place for farmers to catch up with each other and see the offerings of exhibitors. It’s been a challenging year for all of us, but we support each other. We look forward to what 2024 has in store for our industry.” – Trish Cook, outgoing president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association and pork producer from Winthrop, Iowa
“The No. 1 takeaway from our annual meeting was a great conversation among delegates on how to innovate our products, connect with consumers and stimulate demand. It is a very trying time in our industry and IPPA, NPB and NPPC are all unified in helping return our industry back to profitability as quickly as possible.” – Alan Wulfekhule, a pork producer from Quasqueton, Iowa
“The challenges of the business of pig farming permeated the Iowa Pork Congress this year. The reports and discussions at the delegate meeting revolved around domestic consumption concerns and our industry’s need to evolve with our younger consumers who consume pork differently than our parents did. The keynote speaker session centered on the need to and strategies for impacting consumers through social media posts and interactions. Unfortunately, economist’s forecasts for profitability in 2024 were not as optimistic as I had hoped.” – Todd Wiley, a pork producer from Walker, Iowa
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