As we enter October — aka “Porktober” — the pork production industry faces a range of challenges, from a struggling market to biosecurity threats. For insights into that industry, Tyne Morgan and Clinton Griffiths welcome Jennifer Shike, editor of Farm Journal’s PORK, to the latest episode of their Unscripted podcast.
Shike says biosecurity remains a top priority for pork producers and that the U.S. has become a leader in developing stringent measures for preventing and containing disease. The dairy industry, which has been battling persistent avian flu since March of this year, has looked to pork for guidance.
“Pork producers are showing everyone else how it works,” Shike says. “It’s hard to do it perfectly all the time, but they’re leading the way.” She wonders how advancements in robotics and AI might help improve biosecurity in the near future.
In North Carolina, the third-largest pork production state, life is even more difficult right now due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. “For these pig farmers, there are the normal stresses, and the stresses they face when these storms come,” Shike says. “They’re dealing with protecting their animals as well as their families.”
On a lighter note, Shike reveals that later this month she’ll move into the host’s chair for the debut of The Pork Podcast. An episode will be posted every week during October on the Farm Journal YouTube channel, as well as on audio platforms, and then shift to every other week.
“We’re really excited to start the podcast and to talk about pork in different ways,” she says. “We’re trying to tell the story behind the story. I want to give our readers and listeners a little bit more.”
While hosting a podcast is new territory for her, she’s an experienced journalist who has written award-winning stories for PORK. Asked to pick her favorite, she initially declines, saying, “I get attached to everybody I write about,” but then chooses “By Her Own Hand: A Farm Girl’s Miraculous Journey from Death to Hope” — a profile of a young woman battling depression and suicidal thoughts. She also points to a very recent article she wrote about how a group of veterinarians are helping save a small Iowa town.
The secret to being an effective interviewer? “Be a good listener,” she advises. And as host of The Pork Podcast, she plans to do just that.
