I had the great opportunity and honor to meet and work with Celeste Laurent at the 2010 Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference in Frankenmuth, MI. I had first encountered Laurent through the big world of social media, where I have countless online friends across the country who are actively engaged in social networking and who are also passionately involved in the agriculture industry. Laurent is a junior studying animal science and communications at Western Kentucky University, and she found her internship on Twitter!
She is an incredible writer and communicator, and she is dedicated to the beef and pork industries. I know that she has a promising future ahead of her, and I thought I would take the opportunity to introduce this up and comer to the AgWired community.
Celeste discovered her interest in journalism while attending Western Kentucky University. Her animal science adviser recommended she pursue her love of writing along with her passion for agriculture advocacy so she signed up for her first news writing class. Celeste’s career plans now include expanding online agriculture news, promoting youth livestock programs and agriculture literacy.
In the summer of 2009, Celeste was employed by the Michigan State University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources as an Animal Welfare & Animal Agriculture Initiative Communications intern. She was responsible for designing and managing a social media campaign for the Michigan Dairy Expo. Currently, Celeste is continuing her studies at Western Kentucky University and working as a freelance writer, speaker, and social media manager.
Just in case I didn’t mention it. I want to be like Russell Graves when I grow up. Here’s a short video he just released about a little girl and her show pig. I think you should let others see it. It’s the kind of thing we need more of out there in the web. It kind of made my morning.
As reported by Hoosier Ag Today, Smithfield Foods has completed the sales of a few ventures. I thought I would pass word on this news for those interested. Below is a clip of the release. Check out the full article here.
Smithfield Foods has completed the sales of both its Chinese joint venture Maverick Food Company Limited to COFCO Limited and the sale of substantially all of the assets of its RMH Foods, LLC to a group of investors led by the Rocke family.
Larry Pope, president and chief executive officer of Smithfield foods, says – the sale of these assets demonstrates our continuing commitment to shed non-core businesses with a greater focus on efficiencies and return on invested capital.
The Vice President of the National Pork Board is Gene Nemecheck. I met him at the NAFB Trade Talk session in Kansas City, MO. Gene is a veterinarian with Tyson.
I asked him “What’s new with the Pork Board?” and he says that the swine genomic project just recently reached completion. He says that after years of work by a team of international researchers, the genetic code for domestic swine was uncovered. That should lead to a host of new insights in agriculture, medicine, conservation and evolution.
Or course I had to ask about the impact of H1N1. He says he just wants people to know that pork products are safe to eat and they’re nutritious. Looking forward he says the Pork Checkoff has benefited producers greatly and points to the Pork Quality Assurance Program in particular.
Last week, I was watching the Ellen DeGeneres Show because I knew she would be interviewing Jonathan Safran Foer, the author of “Eating Animals,” a gruesome attack against animal agriculture and a strong testimony for a vegan lifestyle. Recently, the National Pork Board responded to Foer’s statements, especially when he falsely linked H1N1 to a hog farm in North Carolina. Read on to learn more about this ongoing debate. To read the entire article and watch the video, link to the New York Times.
“This swine flu that’s now an epidemic, they’ve been able to trace it back to a farm in North Carolina,” he said. “A hog farm. Nobody knows this. Nobody talks about it. We’ve been told this lie that it came from Mexico.”
But Liz Wagstrom, a staff veterinarian at the National Pork Board, said the claim that the novel 2009 H1N1 virus originally came from swine farms in North Carolina is “patently false.” Researchers at that time did find an H3N2 flu virus in pigs there, she said, but it had a different genetic architecture than the current H1N1 pandemic virus circulating around the world. And those trying to link the H1N1 to factory farming “are using a scare tactic to try to cast a negative light on modern pork production,” Ms. Wagstrom said.
Farmers in Minnesota are helping to feed the hungry, even as they face their own tough times.
Minnesota Farmers Helping Families, a coalition of state agriculture commodity groups, recently donated more than $115,000 in pork and dairy products to Hunger Solutions Minnesota.
Governor Tim Pawlenty was joined at the state capitol by representatives from the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council, Minnesota Pork Board and Minnesota Milk Producers Association to announce the donation of approximately 85,000 pounds of pork and more than 36,000 pounds of cheese.
“Minnesota farmers are known for their willingness to help neighbors in times of need,” Governor Pawlenty said. “It’s heartwarming to see the agricultural community lending a hand, even as it faces its own economic challenges.” In the past two years, high feed costs, the downward spiral of the economy, and now, the fallout from H1N1influenza, have translated to a 5 billion dollar loss for the pork industry. About 200 of the state’s dairy farms have closed in the past year as the worldwide economic crisis has resulted in record low prices and a sharp drop in demand.
Pictured here with Gov. Pawlenty are Barb Overlie, Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council; Pat Lunemann, Minnesota Milk Producers Association; and Jim Merritt, Minnesota Pork Board.
This is an interesting look at the H1N1 vs. swine flu references in the media that continues to plague the pork industry. Written by Gary Truitt for Hoosier Ag Today, Prevent Swine Flu, Eat More Bacon, Truitt suggets that producers quit fighting the “swine flu” references and simply start making fun of it. I wonder how this will go over. What are your thoughts? Could this work? Here is a clip of that article. Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section. (Photo courtesy Hoosier Ag Today)
H1N1 is not a laughing matter; people are sick and dying from this unique virus. The President has signed a document declaring this a national emergency. Some schools are closed; people are standing in line for hours to get H1N1 vaccines; and, last week, some Halloween candy distribution events were called off, a true sign of a pandemic. But if this is really that serious, why are people so uninformed, why is the media so misinformed, and why has it become the latest butt of jokes? Because that is why we do in America when an issue gets overexposed. It moves from being serious to silly. H1N1 is quickly headed in that direction which may allow pork producers to finally repair the damage caused by the Swine Flu association.
For the past several months, the ag industry has been trying to get the media to stop using the term swine flu. This effort has been, for the most part, a failure. Even efforts by USDA, The White House, and several press associations have failed to make a dent in the use of swine flu in stories about H1N1. So, if you can’t beat-em join-em. Let’s start calling it swine flu but in a way that removes all the credibility to the term and thus eliminates people’s connection to the swine industry.
There is a web site that is selling a verity of products with humorous swine flu sayings on them. T-shirts that read, “Prevent swine flu eat more bacon.” They also sell neckties with photos of pigs wearing surgical masks. The internet is filled with funny photos, sayings, and stories all making fun of swine flu. One e-mail message that crossed my desk warmed me to disregard any messages asserting eating canned pork could give you swine flu, it said it was just Spam. There are rumors that a line of special swine flu get well cards is in the works. Perhaps Gary Varvel will do a cartoon showing healthy hogs in a bio-secure confinement facility watching CNN and saying they are glad they are not human so they can’t get swine flu.
Pigs, like people, sometimes get sick or contract influenza viruses and recover. Indeed, pigs in several other countries previously have contracted the novel H1N1 flu.
As it did in late April after initial reports on the H1N1 flu, NPPC is urging pork producers to tighten their existing biosecurity protocols to protect their pigs from the virus, including restricting public access to barns.
Find out more facts about H1N1 (not swine flu!) from NPPC.
Last week, the National Pork Board kicked off National Eat Dinner Together Week, in conjunction with Feeding America—the national organization that supports our nation’s food banks. For every recipe on the pork website that is printed or downloaded—they donated five pounds of pork to the nation’s food banks! The goal of this week was to promote pork nutrition information and recipes, while donating food to a great cause. America’s Pork Producers promised to donate up to 10,000 pounds of pork – which is 50,000 meals! What a great cause!
To help get the word out, the National Pork Board enlisted all-American supermodel and celebrity mom Niki Taylor, mother of twins Jake and Hunter, and baby Ciel. Says Niki, “With all we’ve got going on, it can be difficult to fit in family meals. However, because we’re so busy, it’s more important than ever to get in quality family time, and eating together is a great way to do that.”America’s pork producers are helping those in need enjoy a meal, too.
Although we missed out on the week of donations, it’s still not too late to enjoy some pork favorites. Link here to check out some great pork recipes for your family to enjoy this week!
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack yesterday urged reporters to “get it right” and call it H1N1.
“The job of the media is to get it right and not necessarily to get it convenient,” said Vilsack. “Some media outlets have been responsive and sensitive to this, but there’s really not been a concerted effort by the media to do a good job, a correct job of making sure this is characterized properly.”
Vilsack made his case on behalf of struggling pork producers who have been adversely affected by the connection to the virus. “I want folks who are in this business of conveying messages“to understand that behind that message there is a family today … wondering how they’re going to be able to pay the bills when they continually sell pork for less than what it costs to produce, and they continue to get hammered for something that they have absolutely nothing to do with.”
Illinois Farm Bureau is taking the case to Facebook by urging us to participate in online H1N1 online activism today. Join the protest here.
Stop the hogwash! Call it H1N1, not “swine flu.” You cannot get H1N1 from eating pork, and the misnomer is hurting pork producers financially.
Join me in the fight against bad farm facts. Copy this entire message into your profile status and leave it there all day. Then click “like” on the Illinois Farm Bureau Fan Page status to show that you participated. Thank you for supporting U.S. agriculture.
One of the key targets for Novus International is the swine industry and to talk to us about it was Dr. Felipe Navarro. He started out asking each of us what our definition of “sustainable” is. He got a lot of different definitions. He has found that when talking about the subject it’s important to know how most of his audience defines it.
He says that the company is focusing on how to make producers more efficient. That’s a word you hear a lot here at Novus. Ways they can help a producer become more efficient will help their customers stay in business. Genetic improvements have made huge strides but now it’s very important to make sure they have good nutritional feed. He says they’re utilizing the strong scientific profile they have available in their research facilities to create solutions for their customers.
There are still hog producers in business in Iowa and they are more dedicated than ever to producing a quality product for consumers at the best price possible.
That was my take away from a meeting I attended this week in Washington, IA to gather some audio, photos and video for our friends at PIC International to use for some on-line marketing. PIC stands for Pig Improvement Company and account manager John Jeckel says the company was started 40 years ago by a half dozen pork producers in England to improve the genetics of their animals. “PIC’s competitive advantage in the market place is feed efficiency and growth rate,” John says.
But genetics can only do so much and the rest is up to the producer. Cliff Jones with PIC’s tech services says they work with producers to help them achieve the maximum genetic potential from their animals with the proper care and he gave the producers in Washington an abbreviated version of PIC’s Farm Managers Boot Camp that they sponsor. “The key focus point is just to pay attention to the pigs,” Cliff says.
What was really interesting to me was the fact that these producers are really dedicated to taking the best possible care of their animals. “Take care of the pigs just like you would take care of your family,” Cliff said. “Take care of the animals and feed the world, that’s what our focus should be.”
While in North Carolina for the Boehringer Ingelheim Swine Health Seminar over the weekend, I had some of the best pork I have ever eaten. The hotel served up a fresh whole hog with a tasty vinegar sauce that was fabulous. The best thing about the airport in Charlotte (which I spent an inordinate amount of time in on Sunday) was the real Carolina BBQ I had for lunch – as good as the porker the night before – with a fried pickle on the side! It ranks as the best airport meal I have ever had.
Made me think about the fact that humans eat meat because it tastes good and because that is what we are meant to do. We are omnivores – we eat both plants and animals. That’s our nature. And the great North Carolina pork producers at the event in Carolina Beach produce some of those tasty animals for us to eat, and do it as economically and efficiently as possible. That’s why things like PETA’s “Unhappy Meals” and HSUS really annoy me.
Missouri farmer Blake Hurst wrote an excellent essay in the Journal for the American Enterprise Institute called the “Omnivore’s Delusion” that cries out against the “agri-intellectuals” like PETA and HSUS and Michael Pollan who criticize modern agricultural production. Blake writes:
I’m so tired of people who wouldn’t visit a doctor who used a stethoscope instead of an MRI demanding that farmers like me use 1930s technology to raise food. Farming has always been messy and painful, and bloody and dirty. It still is.
Messy and painful, yes – but rewarding as well, or people like Blake and rest of the agricultural producers in this country who provide us with both plants and animals for food wouldn’t keep doing it. Read Blake’s essay and pass it on to everyone, especially those omnivores you know who are not in agriculture.
We have had a couple of comments asking if the Boehringer Ingelheim Swine Health Seminar presentations will be available for those who were not able to attend, and the answer is yes.
Ned Arthur (pictured here at work) with Truffle Media Networks was at the event taking photos and video and doing interviews, all of which will be posted along with the power points on SwineCast this Wednesday.
Ned interviewed BIVI’s Stephan Lange, who was the moderator for the seminar, about the event on Friday. Stephan gave a short synopsis of the presenters’ major take-home points and what he hoped the producers got out of the event. “We put together a really nice program,” said Stephan. “The essence of it was to take a look at where the swine industry, even in dire times, can find efficiencies, even when profitability is low.”
Again, check out SwineCast for complete presentations on Wednesday.
The Twitterverse is oinking this morning as thousands of tweets are being posted with the #oink hashtag to show support for American pork producers who have been hurt by the incorrect labeling of H1N1 virus. Of course you’ve got your typical wackos using the opportunity to promote their vegan agenda or some website they want to promote that has nothing to do with the topic.
It’s still early in the day but I’ve seen #oink trending as high as 3rd or 4th on Twitter. That’s a sign that there’s a lot of activity and interest. If you’re interested to see what people are saying then follow along.
Livestock producers could take a cue from their crop brethren and adopt some precision technology to be more efficient.
That advice comes from ag economist and swine industry specialist Dennis DiPietre, who spoke at the Boehringer Ingelheim swine health seminar in North Carolina on Friday. “It’s a really interesting road map what has been going on with precision agriculture techniques,” Dennis says. “Farmer who have adopted this technology can see variations in their field easily and adjust the production process while it is still in progress.”
“In livestock production, we don’t have the technology today to really get a good look at the variation happening within growing livestock,” he continues. However, he believes the key to profitability for the livestock industry is measuring and controlling variance, “to be able to reduce the variability of the outcome of the animal.”
Testing saliva for human diseases has been around for as long as a century, but it was only about a decade ago that someone thought it might work for livestock as well.
The swine industry is getting very close to being able to detect the presence of disease in a herd using a rope that pigs can chew on and leave their saliva for testing and that was the topic of two presentations Friday at the Boehringer Ingelheim swine health seminar in North Carolina.
John Prickett with Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine has been studying oral fluid testing of swine for four years and he says the rope collection method works pretty well. “The pigs love it. They’re very inquisitive by nature, there’s not a lot for them to do and they are always looking for the ropes – they have fun with it,” he says.
They have data on testing for a variety of diseases and now the work is moving forward with assay development, which Dr. Jeff Zimmerman of Iowa State University says is the key to making oral fluid testing affordable. “Between 12 and 18 months from now, we are going to have antibody-based assays that are ready to go,” Zimmerman said. “And that’s going to be when we start getting the costs down.”
Zimmerman says disease control relies on good data and he says better data would have helped the industry get correct information about the H1N1 outbreak disseminated faster.
Swine producers need to carefully evaluate the costs of prevention versus treatment when it comes to disease in their herds.
“We need to try to categorize the different types of diseases, as to whether it has a real good type of treatment, a low cost type of treatment, or maybe a high cost animal health problem if we do get it in the herd, and then start making animal health management decisions based on that,” said Iowa State University ag economist Dr. Jim Kliebenstein at the Boehringer Ingelheim swine health seminar in North Carolina on Friday.
One point he made is that “total prevention” of any disease is probably unaffordable. “Maybe getting it to where there’s only a ten percent chance or a five percent chance, but once we get above that, the costs of going to even greater lengths far exceed the benefits,” he said.
Kliebenstein presented the economic impact of swine disease, especially PRRS, both from a personal level and on an average per producer and for the industry. He was a partner in a gilt multiplier herd when they had an outbreak of PRRS that caused them to lose their contract. “We lost a significant number of dollars,” he related. “We had gilts that were on the books at $250 because we had a production contract. Overnight, they went to $50 or less.”
Overall, Kleibenstein estimates the annual cost of just PRRS to the U.S. swine industry at $600-800 million a year and could increase to $1 billion if the disease incidence keeps growing. He strongly recommends that producers do their homework and determine what works best for their operations to control and prevent swine diseases.
Better control of the air that hogs breathe offers the greatest promise for preventing the transmission of PRRSv that the industry has ever seen.
That is what Dr. Scott Dee with the Swine Disease Eradication Center in Minnesota told producers attending the Boehringer Ingelheim swine health seminar in North Carolina.
We have chatted with Dr. Dee before here on Agwired – most recently at World Pork Expo – and his main message is one of optimism for ultimately eradicating PRRS. “I’ve just never seen anything work like this before, where we can actually protect a farm from a neighbor virus,” Scott says about using air filtration for hog operations, which are being studied long term at the research center in Minnesota.
Cost may be a limiting factor for producers, but Scott says they have seen even the most expensive systems can pay for themselves in one year.
Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc. (BIVI) is passionate about pigs, which is why working with producers to control PRRSv is so important to them.
Dale Polson, with technical resources in the swine segment of BIVI, was first up on the company’s annual swine health seminar in Carolina Beach today and his presentation talked about the “Golden Rule” of PRRS control. “Transmit unto your neighbor as you would have your neighbor transmit unto you,” Polson said. In other words, “To maximize PRRS control, it can’t be just what you do, it has to be what you and your neighbor do.” That means a coordinated regional control initiative.
Dale applies the Stockdale Paradox – “Confront the brutal facts, but never give up” – to the PRRS situation. “PRRS is a tough disease, probably the hardest one we have ever faced,” he said. “Confronting the brutal facts is facing the need to cooperate but never giving up is then doing the work, because it is a lot of work to do right.”
Commodity Classic took place in Anaheim, CA. You'll find all of Chuck, Cindy and Joanna's photos here.
Exposing HSUS
If you're involved in agriculture then you should become familiar with HumaneWatch.org.
HumaneWatch.org is the work of David Martosko and in this week's program you get to meet him via my phone conversation with him. He's compiling a great online library of information on this group.
I had the great opportunity and honor to meet and work with Celeste Laurent at the 2010 Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference in Frankenmuth, MI. I had first encountered Laurent through the big world of social media, where I have countless online friends across the country who are actively engaged in social networking and who are also passionately involved in the agriculture industry. Laurent is a junior studying animal science and communications at Western Kentucky University, and she found her internship on Twitter! 
As reported by Hoosier Ag Today, 
The Vice President of the 
Last week, I was watching the Ellen DeGeneres Show because I knew she would be interviewing Jonathan Safran Foer, the author of “Eating Animals,” a gruesome attack against animal agriculture and a strong testimony for a vegan lifestyle. Recently, the National Pork Board responded to Foer’s statements, especially when he falsely linked H1N1 to a hog farm in North Carolina. Read on to learn more about this ongoing debate. To read the entire article and watch the video, link to the 
Minnesota Farmers Helping Families, a coalition of state agriculture commodity groups, recently donated more than $115,000 in pork and dairy products to 
This is an interesting look at the H1N1 vs. swine flu references in the media that continues to plague the pork industry. Written by Gary Truitt for Hoosier Ag Today, 
Last week, the National Pork Board kicked off 
Vilsack made his case on behalf of struggling pork producers who have been adversely affected by the connection to the virus. “I want folks who are in this business of conveying messages“to understand that behind that message there is a family today … wondering how they’re going to be able to pay the bills when they continually sell pork for less than what it costs to produce, and they continue to get hammered for something that they have absolutely nothing to do with.”
One of the key targets for 
That was my take away from a meeting I attended this week in Washington, IA to gather some audio, photos and video for our friends at 
But genetics can only do so much and the rest is up to the producer. Cliff Jones with PIC’s tech services says they work with producers to help them achieve the maximum genetic potential from their animals with the proper care and he gave the producers in Washington an abbreviated version of PIC’s Farm Managers Boot Camp that they sponsor. “The key focus point is just to pay attention to the pigs,” Cliff says. 
While in North Carolina for the 
Missouri farmer Blake Hurst wrote an excellent essay in the Journal for the American Enterprise Institute called the 
We have had a couple of comments asking if the 
Ned interviewed BIVI’s Stephan Lange, who was the moderator for the seminar, about the event on Friday. Stephan gave a short synopsis of the presenters’ major take-home points and what he hoped the producers got out of the event. “We put together a really nice program,” said Stephan. “The essence of it was to take a look at where the swine industry, even in dire times, can find efficiencies, even when profitability is low.”
Livestock producers could take a cue from their crop brethren and adopt some precision technology to be more efficient.
The swine industry is getting very close to being able to detect the presence of disease in a herd using a rope that pigs can chew on and leave their saliva for testing and that was the topic of two presentations Friday at the 
They have data on testing for a variety of diseases and now the work is moving forward with assay development, which Dr. Jeff Zimmerman of Iowa State University says is the key to making oral fluid testing affordable. “Between 12 and 18 months from now, we are going to have antibody-based assays that are ready to go,” Zimmerman said. “And that’s going to be when we start getting the costs down.”
Swine producers need to carefully evaluate the costs of prevention versus treatment when it comes to disease in their herds. 
Better control of the air that hogs breathe offers the greatest promise for preventing the transmission of PRRSv that the industry has ever seen.
If you're involved in agriculture then you should become familiar with HumaneWatch.org.
