When Mike Paustian took over the reins as the president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA) a year ago, he thought he knew the key issues the pork industry would be dealing with in the year ahead. But as he says, that all got “chucked out the window” a couple months later.
Although many things had to shift to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, one of IPPA’s goals – improving interactions with consumers – did not.
“We were planning to launch a program that put an Iowa spin on the We Care program,” explains Paustian, a hog farmer from Walcott, Iowa. “Fortunately, that still went forward. With all of the focus on the food supply chain due to COVID-19 disruptions, it actually gave us an even bigger platform from which to reach out and talk to consumers.”
Granted, it was in the middle of a crisis, he admits, and they had to talk about some pretty tough subjects. But at the same time, he believes that gave the pork industry a unique opportunity to build on that interest in the food supply chain to remind people about the We Care principles pork producers rely on.
“We were able to share how those principles were guiding us as we navigated through the COVID-19 disruptions,” he says. “It certainly turned a spotlight on the industry and helped us get our message out there, despite all the craziness going on. People were forced to think about the food supply chain and all the steps that are involved.”
It was also an opportunity for people who don’t always get in the spotlight to receive credit they deserve, he adds.
“A lot of talk gets done about farmers, but there are a lot of other hands along the way – people working at the processing plants, truckers, people working in the grocery stores” he says. “I hope it shined a light on some of those folks who are just as critical to making sure the food keeps moving.”
What does he hope producers remember?
Many people talk about 2020 as a year to forget, but Paustian hopes the pork industry can look back on 2020 and see the resiliency and teamwork that took place.
“Pork producers don’t quit. People were projecting millions of pigs euthanized and it was looking pretty grim, but at the end of day it wasn’t anywhere close to the projections,” Paustian says. “I think that’s because when it comes down to it, pork producers don’t give up on their pigs.”
Pork producers show up. They do what needs to be done. And when something doesn’t work, they figure out a way to make it work.
“From remodeling old barns, selling pigs on Facebook and delivering pigs to the East Coast or the West Coast, they did whatever they could to keep pigs in food supply and all while those pigs were hardly worth anything. They did all that work – even losing money – but their priority was to make sure those pigs stayed in the food supply,” he says.
That “can do” attitude and refusal to quit is something he hopes all producers can take pride in. In addition, farmers learned that if there is a disruption somewhere in the food supply chain, they will be the ones who take the brunt of it because they just can’t flip the switch off.
“We do have some new tools we didn’t realize we had before. We learned how to make pigs not grow,” he says. “Everyone took a hard look at their own farm to figure out if there is a future disruption whether from COVID-19 or a FAD, do I have the flexibility on my farm to handle a situation where I can’t get pigs to market for a period of time? Hopefully producers were able to figure some things out and be ready for the future.”
Another bright spot of the past year was the Pass the Pork program, Paustian says. What started out as an effort to get pigs in the food supply and food in the hands of people who need it most, became so much more.
“From the lockers that worked extra hours to get pigs processed to the producers who donated pigs to the companies and individuals who donated to cover the costs of processing and transportation, it was really heartwarming to see people step up like that,” he says. “I believe Pass the Pork helped a lot of us get through the worst of the disruptions because even though so many things out of our control, what we could control was reaching out to help those who were really hurting.”
Paustian testified on behalf of the National Pork Producers Council before the Senate Agriculture Committee in March 2020 regarding regulation of emerging animal breeding technologies.
What can producers expect at the annual meeting?
After many long discussions, the IPPA board of directors decided to keep the essential business meetings in person and move as many things as they could to a virtual format and cancel some events like the trade show.
He previewed a few resolutions that will be presented before the IPPA members at the annual meeting.
“One resolution we will present is about premise IDs,” Paustian says. “We feel it would be of great benefit if we encourage producers to maintain pig movement records that include those premise IDs. So any time pigs move from one place to another, there will be a record of the premise ID where they came from and the ID for where they went.”
These records will be vital in the event of a foreign animal disease outbreak, he explains. They would allow the state veterinarian to quickly get those records from producers and be able to trace back where a group of pigs that may be infected would have come from.
“Through all the foreign animal disease planning, we’ve learned speed is going to be of the essence. If a case ever shows up, the faster we can get a handle on where the cases might be, and get those areas locked down, the faster the cleanup is going to be,” he says. “Now, of course, we hope we’re going to be able to completely keep ASF and any other foreign animal diseases out of the country, but we still need to have a plan in place. This resolution builds on that plan.”
A second resolution will address the recently listed CME pork cutout contract that went live at the end of last year. It supports training and educational efforts to help producers understand how to use it on their farm.
The third resolution focuses on the Strategic Investment Program rate increase that has been voted on by the national delegates and is due to go into effect this year, Paustian says.
“There’s been some discussions about how successful the rollout of that would be with the current limitations due to COVID-19. This resolution proposes delaying the SIP rate increase one year, but recognizing NPPC still has some serious budget issues, which was the point of the rate increase.”
This will be brought before the delegates for discussion. Paustian says it will be important to be able to communicate to producers why the rate increase has been approved by the delegates, why producers should support that and how the pandemic has created challenges in timing.
Virtual opportunities to engage at Iowa Pork Congress
In addition, there are many great seminars that producers can attend virtually. Pre-register and learn more here. http://www.iowaporkcongress.org/seminars.php
“That’s always been a big focus of Iowa Pork Congress – getting information out to producers so they can make improvements on their own operations,” Paustian says. “We will also have our scholarship auction online that supports youth scholarships.”
With all the disruptions young people have faced because of COVID-19, he believes it is more important than ever to support this cause.
“Our youth have had a lot of their lives tossed up in the air, which is unfortunate because I think the doctors would tell us they’re one of the least at-risk groups, yet they’ve seen some of the most serious disruptions,” he says. “We’re trying to try to make sure we can support the youth programs as much as possible.”
Learn more about Iowa Pork Congress.
Read more from Farm Journal’s PORK:
Listen More, Talk Less: Mike Paustian Takes On Leadership of Iowa Pork
USDA Should Oversee Gene-Edited Livestock, Paustian Testifies
