The Domestic Marketing Advisory Committee is one of six recently formed producer-led advisory committees. This committee is charged with strategizing market growth across channel partners in foodservice, retail, packers and processors. In addition, the Taste What Pork Can Do campaign strengthens demand for U.S. pork with younger consumers and various multicultural audiences.
The goal is to connect committee’s perspectives to checkoff-funded marketing efforts with broader U.S. pork industry priorities and challenges.
“We often remind each other that ‘more people eating more pork more often’ is our focus, and it aligns with goal No. 1 in our strategic plan to drive and increase the long-term value of pork,” said Jesse Heimer, NPB board member and Missouri producer. “This committee aims to promote pork in the marketplace and give consumers more reasons to choose pork.”
Committee members were selected after careful consideration of geographic diversity, producer representation and variety of operational practices.
Committee members include:
NPB Board Member Co-Chairs
Terry Wolters, Pipestone System, Wholestone Farms, South Dakota
Jesse Heimer, Heimer Hampshires, Missouri
Producers
Jason Christensen, Eichelberger Farms, Inc., Iowa
Corey Miller, Linn Valley Pigs, Iowa
Dwight Mogler, NPB Board Member, Mogler Farms/Pig Hill, Iowa
Allied Industry
Jason Propst, Walk & Sons, FS Total Livestock Service, Illinois
Joel Sparks, Audubon Manning Veterinary Clinic, Indiana
Galen Williams H-E-B Grocery, Texas
Jeffrey Wolff, Wolff Family Genetics, South Dakota
Packers, Processors and Integrators
Will Brunt, Villari Food Group, North Carolina
Kelly Haman, Webster City Custom Meats, Iowa
Brad Hamilton, Clemens Food Group, Pennsylvania
Brian Kelly, Porky Products, New Jersey
Brian Lillis, Hormel Foods Corp, Minnesota
Joe Locke, Tyson Foods, Oklahoma
Zach Sanders, JBS USA, Colorado
Brendan Smith, Smithfield Foods, Virginia
Ozlem Worpel, Seaboard Foods, Kansas
State Pork Association Staff
Bailey Borst, Minnesota Pork Board
Mikayla Schaefer, Illinois Pork Producers Association
“By uniting behind pork’s flavor, balanced nutrition and everyday appeal, this committee advises on partnerships across the supply chain that grow the entire pork category,” the National Pork Board says in a release. “Through domestic market growth, the industry inspires consumers to see pork in new ways, whether it’s ground pork driving value and volume, pork in plant-forward diets or recipes that make pork easier and more accessible to prepare.”
Fresh off NPB’s Retail Advisory Committee Meeting, industry leaders convened to discuss challenges of supply and demand for competing proteins in the meatcase, GLP-1s and consumer shopping preferences and how protein consumption and eating habits continually evolve.
NPB says it aims to improve global pork demand, so the decline in pork consumption among domestic millennials and Gen Z is top of mind. Instead of meat being at the “center of the plate,” it’s now an ingredient in a dish for younger consumers.
The Domestic Marketing Advisory Committee is charged with identifying opportunities to make pork relatable, relevant and magnify its ability to fit consumers’ lifestyles and life stages, NPB says.
