Growing up in Burlington, Ontario, Greg Simpson never imagined he’d be doing what he does today serving as the general manager for Hypor North America, a swine genetics company. He always envisioned himself becoming a bovine veterinarian, but later became interested in swine nutrition while attending the University of Guelph and thought he might become a university professor. However, an opportunity arose with Hypor that he couldn’t pass up to join their team as a nutritionist in 2012.
Over time, his opportunities grew within one of the top five providers of swine genetics in the world to land him in the role he is in now. And he says he couldn’t be happier.
“I love solving problems, finding solutions and providing answers to people,” Simpson says. “The variety makes it interesting for me.”
He shares his views on leadership, business strategy, the pork industry and what he’s learned during his career.
Q. What is your company’s why?
A. At Hypor North America, we see ourselves as being part of the solution to the global food challenge that we are facing. We support that through our genetic solutions. Our philosophy is there isn’t a magic bullet when it comes to feeding future generations. It’s going to take a consistent effort from many different stakeholders on a global scale to be able to feed everybody in the world, both today and in the future. We contribute in our own way through high-quality animal genetics. We are part of the solution to help overcome this big threat for the future.
Q. Describe a typical day on the job for you.
A. There isn’t much that’s typical about my day. Most of it is spent finding and providing solutions to problems or various issues. One day, it might be around some production-related problems. Another day, it might be more finance-related, and sometimes it’s tech service in nature.
Q. What helps you flex between challenges?
A. I draw upon my team. I have a really talented team in the U.S. and in Canada that I work with. If I need help with a problem, I can call on any one of them and they can help me out. I have colleagues that are in different time zones around the world that may have experienced a similar issue and have a partial solution or a thread that I can pull on to help find something that will fit to solve a problem here. That is the nice part about being a global entity. We have resources all over the world and someone’s probably had a similar problem somewhere else and may have part of the solution.
Q. How does your company help and work with its customers?
A. As a genetic provider, we want our clients to experience the most they can out of our products. In some cases, there’s a limitation to that. Whether it’s nutrition, management, environment, health or meat quality, we have a host of regional and global experts that we can draw on to help clients get the most out of the products that they’re using from us.
Q. How is your company using technology to speed up progress?
A. We’ve been playing around with virtual reality technology, using the Microsoft HoloLens, for over a couple years. We actually have clients selecting animals virtually. In Japan, for example, we have a client who wants a very specific confirmation on boars. He can be sitting in his office in Japan while one of our staff on the farm can be wearing our HoloLens. He can literally see everything that the person wearing the HoloLens can see so he can do selection remotely from his office. Technology is changing the interaction. However, at the same time, in-barn help is a necessary thing to provide. We’re using every tool in our toolbox to try and make sure that our clients get the help they need at the time they need in the manner they want it.
Q. How has the business changed since you started?
A. Some of the trends continue like integration, concerns around animal welfare, meat quality discussions and globalization of our industry, but at the same time, they seem to be moving at a faster pace. Ten years ago, we were just dreaming about the technology we have today like being able to control your barn remotely. The other thing we are seeing is a shift in messaging – more discussion around sustainability in our industry not only from an economic point of view, but also an animal, social and environmental point of view. We’re thinking more about how we raise pigs and how we can do it in a profitable way while considering the other needs of both society and environment.
Q. Who inspired (or inspires) you?
A. I come from a family of teachers. My parents instilled in me a lifelong interest in learning. I’ve always tried new things. I’ve always encouraged others to learn new things and to be open to learn. It’s amazing what comes to you when you’re open to the opportunity.
Q. What concerns do you have about the swine industry?
A. How big is too big? That’s my main concern. I have kids in college who are interested in agriculture, but I don’t know how they can afford to get into agriculture with the way the industry has increased in size and scope. It’s difficult for people who want to get into our industry as a primary producers without finding a niche or some type of specialized product. Also, at what point is it too big that we can’t provide all the things we need to provide to ensure that we are producing a healthy, safe product to the consumer?
Q. What are the greatest opportunities in the swine industry today?
A. There will always be opportunities in agriculture because people need to eat. We’re blessed in North America with an overabundance of food. The world will always have an appetite, so there will always be opportunities in agriculture. The cool thing is now that we have this complex technology with primary production, there are IT jobs in agriculture, jobs in technical developments, jobs in engineering and of course, primary production. There are spots for all kinds of people with a whole variety of skills and talents to fit within agriculture.
Keep reading to learn about Simpson’s business philosophy and what he would do differently in his career.
