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Q. How will COVID-19 change the pork industry?
A. COVID-19 will impact labor and management of safety within the workplace. While disruptive, COVID-19 forced us to consider many things about how we work and interact with people. We have worked to control virus spread in our livestock operations, but not so much within our people. We will learn more about biosecurity in general and COVID-19, and as we do, we will continue to adapt. Some of it will be disruptive, but I expect we will find some opportunities to improve how we work and interact.
Q. What do you enjoy most about your job?
A. The challenge and range of skills I get to use or develop each day is what I most enjoy. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to sit down with independent producers and discuss their business, participate with my team in managing our business and work with our business leaders to strategically position our business for the future. It’s something new every day, it’s extremely challenging and it results in a lot of personal growth.
Q. What is your business philosophy?
A. Our business has well-defined strategic themes and core values which we live every day. In short, our business is about people – the people within our business and the people that subscribe to our products and services. We must treat and serve them all well. They must be a part of our vision and our vision must benefit them.
Q. What will the business look like 20 years from now?
A. If we first look back at what has changed over the past 20 years as to sophistication and technology, we will see even more accelerated advancement in the next 20 years. Technology will continue to change how we access and integrate labor, make decisions using science to advance efficiencies and values we don’t fully understand today, and integrate information and analytics to make better, more timely decisions. But it will still take a lot of passionate people and resources.
Q. What advice do you have for someone who might like to do what you do someday?
A. Learn how to share ideas or even make statements by asking questions. In doing so, you are listening, but also forcing engagement and consideration by the responding person or group. This is a valuable skill you can develop that not only facilitates the growth of the people around you, but also yourself. I am still working on this to master it and expect to for the rest of my career. (It also works well on kids!)
Read more from Farm Journal’s PORK:
PORK Perspectives: A Minute with John Waddell
PORK Perspectives: A Minute with Frank Brummer
PORK Perspectives: A Minute with Mark Bienhoff
PORK Perspectives: A Minute with Martin Enderink
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 Pat Joyce 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.
