Maybe you’ve seen him on the stage at a state pork association meeting, or maybe you’ve listened to him speak on a webinar online. National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) CEO Bryan Humphreys is certainly no stranger to the pork industry, but here are five things you may not know about him.
Q. What is the topic that gets you most excited about the U.S. pork industry and why?
A. There’s never a shortage of issues. You’ve got ASF, trade, all these different topics that are out there. However, when I look at the things that get me the most fired up, it’s about the innovation in this industry. From genetic editing to vaccine development to barn development, those are the highlights to me. We work in an industry that is constantly looking for improvement, constantly looking for change, constantly looking to be better today than they were yesterday. Things don’t just happen. It’s because collectively as an industry, everybody here wants to be better than they were before. Making sure pork producers have the freedom to be able to do that with reasonable legislation and public policy is everything to me.
Q. What is something the U.S. pork industry needs to do better?
A. The folks in our industry are incredibly innovative, and I think that has suited them very well over the years. If I could implore folks to do anything, it’s to continue to be engaged and not just in NPPC, or in the state board associations or even the National Pork Board, but be engaged in the political process. Don’t stop at congressional races and talking to your congressmen and senators, but get engaged at the local level – township trustees, county supervisors, state elected officials, everywhere and anywhere that can have an impact on the pork industry. We constantly talk about the need to get out and tell our story, which I think is important. We talk about the need to be transparent, which I think is also important. But just as important is being engaged in the process with elected officials.
Q. What do you like to do in your spare time?
A. I love spending time with my beautiful wife and our 10-year-old son. I like to read and go to rock climbing competitions with my son.
Q. How do you keep yourself accountable to growth as a leader?
A. I’m constantly asking for feedback. Just ask the team here, or those who have worked with me in the past: nobody is allowed to let me off easy. I think of feedback as an opportunity – constantly hearing how you can do better. Although you may not always agree with it, it’s important to hear. I’m always asking, “What can we do better? Where did we slip up there? How can we improve here?” I think it is incredibly important, for not just me as an individual, but for us as an organization, too.
Q. If you had five minutes with a pork producer right now, what would you tell them?
A. The next couple of years are going to be tough. It’s supply chain issues. It’s geopolitics. It’s world dynamics. This era we’ve been in for the last 30 years with a move towards globalization has been fantastic for trade and for opportunities worldwide for the pork industry. But with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a lot of that is being revisited. The challenges that we face with our other trading partners and supply chains have gotten backed up and challenged, there’s going to be a lot of ups and downs and Ys in the road as we move forward as an industry. But the bright side is, as an industry, we’ve faced challenges before. The ability to innovate and to be forward thinking and to look for the opportunities is going to exist now more than maybe it ever has before. As an industry, it’s going to be tough. But I think the opportunities ahead are going to be incredibly exciting as we move forward. It’s about being engaged. It’s about participating in the process. And it’s about making sure that we’re moving the ball forward and continually being innovative.
We will be uniting together June 6-12 for PORK Week across all of our Farm Journal platforms to elevate the important role the pork industry plays in feeding the world. Share your stories and post photos on social media using #PORKWeek22 to help us honor the pork industry. From “AgDay TV” to “AgriTalk” to “U.S. Farm Report” to PorkBusiness.com and everything in between, tune in and join us as we acknowledge the most noble profession there is: feeding people.
Read “Innovative Insight: How Bryan Humphreys Will Lead Pork Industry Forward” here.
