From 4-H and FFA to judging livestock at Black Hawk East to working in the swine industry, Kale Causemaker has been part of the ag industry for as long as he can remember. His experiences as a member of high school and collegiate livestock judging teams were instrumental in his decision to stay involved in agriculture. Currently, Causemaker serves as the senior director of sales for Innovation Solutions at Kent Nutrition Group.
He grew up in a small town in Henry County, Ill., where his family had a small cow calf and row crop operation. “Interestingly enough, Henry County was the self-proclaimed hog capitol of the world at one time,” he says.
Causemaker now resides in Geneseo, Ill., where he has worked in the swine industry for the past 35 years. He started his career in hog procurement and has been with Innovative Solutions for almost four years.
Read on to learn more about his career, from his business philosophy to his outlook on the pork industry.
Q: What is your why?
A: My why is to help discover and get directly involved in identifying and developing nutritional solutions for pork producers while leading a team that supports these technologies for our customers.
Q: Describe a typical day on the job for you.
A: Every day is a little different and that makes it fun! Not only do I manage people from a director’s position, but I’m also developing a new business model within the organization. If there are two constants, each morning I get caught up with a high-level overview of what is going on in the industry as well as what I need to share with my team. This helps me have a good understanding of what producers are facing and see what is going on with our team. Second, I regularly check in with our technical manager Dr. Tom Weber to get updates on research projects and product developments. All of this helps me better understand the innovative ways we can help our industry.
Q: How does your company serve its customers?
A: It’s really pretty simple – we prioritize working with our customers to understand their needs and challenges. As a whole, my company has the capabilities of providing high quality swine and other animal nutrition to producers. We have 10 manufacturing facilities in the Midwest central geography as well as four plants on the East Coast.
Q: How has the business changed since you started?
A: The industry has changed immensely since I started working at Kent for the first time in 2003. There certainly has been consolidation and that will likely continue. Most notably, there seems to be more collaboration within the industry between producers and competing companies to work together to find solutions.
Q: What concerns do you have about the swine industry?
A: Currently, one of the major concerns is profitability or lack thereof. We’ve been through this before as an industry, but not sustained this long. 2024 is forecasted to be about the same situation for producers. That’s a major concern. Another one is the threat of foreign animal disease – it is always on our mind.
Q: What are the greatest opportunities in the swine industry today?
A: Our greatest opportunity is to improve livability. I don’t think anybody’s satisfied or proud of the rise in sow mortality that we’ve seen over the years. Approximately 20% of the pigs don’t make it to weaning and approximately 30% don’t make it to market. There’s obviously a lot of factors involved there, from genetics to management, even nutrition. It is going to take the industry coming together to solve that. Fortunately, there are already steps in place to do that.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your job?
A: Interacting with the people in our industry is my favorite part of the job – whether it’s the producers themselves, my colleagues or other industry professionals. There isn’t another industry I’d rather be involved in than agriculture. It’s a small world and when you narrow it down to agriculture, and it’s even smaller.
Q: Who inspires you?
A: I’ve been fortunate to have many people positively influence me, whether it’s personally or professionally. It’s hard to say just one – it is really the pork industry as a whole. The industry motivates me because they are a group of a good, resilient people. They make you want to work hard for them.
Q: What is your business philosophy?
A: If a product or service is not scientifically proven to provide a positive return on investment, then it is not a sustainable solution. It’s just that simple. I don’t think it’s the correct thing to do to provide a product or service, just to make a margin for your company. It must prove positive for the producers, and then it’s a win-win.
Q: If you could go back and do something differently in your career, what would it be and why?
A: I probably would have taken more of a meat science route. I enjoy that. I’m one that likes to stand in front of a meat counter at a grocery store and just analyze cuts of meats. It’s just like judging a live animal. It’s always intrigued me.
Q: What advice do you have for someone who might like to do what you do someday?
A: I would encourage someone who’s interested in a career like mine to always prioritize your team’s success over your own personal success. If you do that, you’re going to maintain a stronger team, maintain more talent, and ultimately that will be the result of your own personal success. Remember it starts with the team.
Q: How do you think the growing threat of foreign animal disease will impact the future of the U.S. pork industry?
A: The growing threat of foreign animal disease has certainly heightened our awareness and our preparedness. As a result, we have policies in place to try and keep foreign animal disease out of our country. We have production systems that have bolstered their biosecurity, not just for foreign animal disease, but for other endemic diseases that affect them. Doing these things to be prepared will make the industry as a whole more prepared for a response if the worst case happens.
Read more:
5 Business Leaders Dish on the Story We Need to Talk More About in the Pork Industry
Think About This: 10 Tips for Pork Producers in a Volatile Market
