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Q. What’s one of your pet peeves?
A. If I look farther down the road and try to be optimistic, I think agriculture is going to own more of the conversation about sustainability and what we’re doing. I’m tired of everybody saying, ‘We’ve got to tell our story.’ Why? Because everyone has a story, but I don’t necessarily want to hear everybody’s stories. It’s more about those shared values. I think we will connect better if we take that information that we’ve learned over the last 35 years and what we’re learning today and communicate better with people about how we are not part of the problem, but rather we’re part of the solution.
Q. What would you do differently in your career?
A. I met my husband because of my career so there are definitely some things I would not do differently. One thing I would do differently is take more chances early on and not be so afraid to fail or make mistakes. When we’re young, and especially if you were a good student and never wanted to get a B, you maybe didn’t take that chance with a project or situation because you didn’t want to fail. I think I would have tried to do that a little more – take a few more risks. I probably would have had a deeper experience because of that.
Q. What advice do you have for the next generation?
A. Be persistent. When I look back, I was a shy, introvert coming out of college. I took a job in sales which I never perceived myself doing. It was hard, but I stuck with it. I had people supporting me along the way. I would also say be open to opportunities along the way. It’s that willingness to say, ‘O.K., I’ll give this a try.” That’s not always easy for me. Sometimes you have to let go of the familiar in order to reach for the unfamiliar.
Q. How has and will COVID-19 impact the future of the pork industry?
A. When you think of the swine industry back in April of 2020, when those packing plants shut down and we saw people scrambling for food and meat in the grocery store, it was a wake-up call for many people. It made consumers pay a little more attention to where their food was coming from and to see all the people along the way that helped get food to their table. I would hope consumers would keep farmers more top of mind as one of those changes. I also think we grew our ability to have conversations and conduct business. I did two virtual Operation Main Street presentations during COVID-19 that have been a lot harder to do pre-pandemic. Face-to-face relationship is important, but I think we learned we can find other ways to communicate when we can’t be face-to-face.
PORK Perspectives is a recurring column that provides business and leadership strategy tips from some of the pork industry’s finest. Opinions expressed in this column are the opinions of Lori Stevermer and do not represent the opinions of Farm Journal’s PORK. Watch for future columns featuring advice and insights from more of the pork industry’s leaders.
More from Farm Journal’s PORK:
PORK Perspectives: A Minute with Greg Simpson
PORK Perspectives: A Minute with Pat Joyce
PORK Perspectives: A Minute with Mark Lyons
PORK Perspectives: A Minute with John Waddell
PORK Perspectives: A Minute with Frank Brummer
