The National Pork Board (NPB) has appointed James “Jamie” Burr, an industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience in sustainability and environmental program leadership, as its first Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO). Although Burr formerly began his role as CSO on March 27, he’s no stranger to the U.S. pork industry.
“Jamie’s input has been invaluable to several key producer-funded initiatives for more than a decade,” says Bill Even, National Pork Board CEO. “He’s served on and chaired several Pork Board environmental and sustainability committees and task forces, so his leadership has already helped shape the industry’s sustainability vision. Establishing a CSO position and adding Jamie to the team continues to demonstrate our industry’s strong commitment to advancing pork sustainability.”
A Familiar Face in the Pork Industry
Burr has spent his entire life in the pork industry. He grew up on a hog farm and his great uncle, grandfather and uncle owned a sale barn in southern Missouri from the 1950s through the early 2000s. He earned a master’s degree in soil science and bachelor’s degree in agronomy from Missouri State University.
Burr comes to NPB from Tyson Foods where he recently served as director of environmental compliance and was the environmental lead for all of Tyson’s live-animal production businesses. Prior to that role, he led several environmental, safety, health and sustainability teams since joining the company in 1999. Notably, he led the development of Tyson’s greenhouse gas science-based target, its deforestation and land-stewardship targets.
Burr’s previous experience puts him in a unique position to be an advocate to producers and for the industry. Working at the intersection of producers and consumers is his favorite place to be, Burr explains.
From telling producer stories to listening to consumers’ needs, he believes finding common ground between the two is important and led him to this role where he will guide the sustainability team of five public health, animal welfare and environmental experts tasked with advancing the pork industry’s sustainability goals and metrics announced in 2022.
Sustainability in the C-Suite
Sustainability has been a focus at NPB for a long time, Burr points out. However, this is the first sustainability leadership position to move up to the C-suite level.
“I think it shows the evolution of the U.S. pork industry and the work we’ve done in this space,” Even says. “Decades ago, we started out thinking about how to manage manure effectively, which led to research, which led to the creation of an environmental committee. Through Jamie’s leadership on that environmental committee, we began focusing on this idea of sustainability based on our We Care ethical principles.”
Most recently, this led NPB to put together real metrics and do real on-farm measurements of sustainability progress with a third-party consultant.
“Once we got those pieces put together, we had a structure and a system and a direction. Then, all we needed was the leader to come in full time and help move that forward. That’s what brought us to Jamie,” Even says.
Burr wants producers to know that the NPB staff is working hard to protect their freedom to operate while listening to what customers are demanding, too.
“I look forward to working with the board of directors, staff and the entire supply chain from field to fork to put actionable strategies in place,” he adds.
Burr says it’s an honor to lead this team and take on the responsibility of shaping and sharing the industry’s sustainability story.
“We have bold goals and metrics that producers have laid out for us, and I look forward to working with the staff and the board to meet and report on those efforts,” he says. “It’s like a relay race. We’ve got these goals with dates, but that doesn’t mean that’s where we’re going to stop. We’re just going to take a breath at the lap line, high five each other and set another round of goals to get working on.”
More from Farm Journal’s PORK:
It’s Time to Get on the Bus: National Pork Board Unveils Sustainability Goals
The Wild Wild West of Carbon Markets: Where Do Swine Genetics Fit?
Pig Farmers Commit to Sustainability: Here’s the Proof
