Despite the challenges facing the hog industry, there were still thousands of producers who attended World Pork Expo earlier this month in Des Moines. Officials estimate attendance was about 14,625, down from 2008, but it was expected due to the impact of the H1N1 virus on international travel.
Even though there were less international visitors at Expo this year, the number of exhibitors was about the same as last year and they were pleased that to find that those pork producers they visited with were interested in products that would help them increase profitability in tough economic times. I talked with Novus International Director of Product Management Wendell Knehans about some of their products, such as dietary anti-oxidants, that help produce healthier animals.
“Take it from a human perspective,” Wendell said. “Most of us know that anti-oxidants like blueberries and green tea are a good way to maintain good health and that applies to animals as well.”
Since it isn’t very practical to feed pigs blueberries and green tea, Wendell says Novus has developed products that offer a combination of anti-oxidants that provide important benefits for producers.
Novus International is celebrating a couple of significant milestones this year, which reminds me of the old ditty “Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold.” The gold would be Santoquin feed preservative which is celebrating 50 years, and the silver is the 25th anniversary of the company’s Chocolate Bayou, TX Alimet feed supplement plant.
I interviewed Novus executive director of global marketing and products Scott Fleetwood at World Pork Expo about their portfolio of both new and older products. “We prefer to call them ’seasoned products’ instead of ‘older products,” Scott says. “They are still as viable and essential to the producer as they were 25 or 50 years ago.”
“We are moving into different areas, more of functional foods, such as DHA, which is essential for eye, brain and heart health,” said Scott. “We are working with our customers to find ways to include DHA in meat, eggs, milk. We’re trying to help our customers’ customers and help consumers understand what it takes to provide them with affordable, wholesome food.”
Listen to or download my interview with Scott here:
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a major focus for Boehringer Ingelheim, which sponsored a press conference at the recent World Pork Expo to talk about some of the latest in PRRS-control strategies.
Dr. Reid Phillips, with BI’s Swine Enteric Technical Services, says they strive to encourage collaborative research in the field and continue to evaluate their modified live vaccine (MLV) and the role it plays in PRRS control. “We know that the vaccine has been effective in a prophylactic model 3-4 weeks ahead of exposure for mitigation of infection,” Reid told me. “We are also looking at using the vaccine in a therapeutic model, reducing the amount of virus transmitted within positive populations.” He says the early evidence of that looks very good, which would mean lowering the risk of the virus moving within regions.
Reid says BI is a family-owned company that is committed to overall animal health and they have been focused on PRRS research since 1994. “We want to do whatever it takes and we believe we are making progress,” he said.
Listen to or download my interview with Reid here:
NOVUS International signed an agreement last week at World Pork Expo with Chr. Hansen to provide the direct fed microbial BioPlus 2B® for swine producers in the United States.
BioPlus 2B® contains two strains of Bacillus (Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus subtilis). These Bacillus strains can improve the intestinal microbial balance of swine. Safety studies have proven that BioPlus 2B® strains are totally safe to animals and humans. The data was compiled into more than 5,000 pages to get final approval in the European Union for all swine categories. It makes BioPlus 2B® the most extensively documented microbial for swine.
“This partnership compliments our GEMS nutrition program and gut health management portfolio,” stated Dan Meagher, Vice President, Americas. “NOVUS International is focused on providing producers, nutritionists and veterinarians with ways to optimize pig health and performance.”
BioPlus 2B® is an effective means of helping balance bacterial populations in the intestinal tract to improve performance regardless of life stage. BioPlus 2B® is an effective DFM that increases live weight gain and improves feed conversion efficiency when used in nursery and grow-finish applications. BioPlus 2B® also helps improve overall intestinal health, improved average daily gain (ADG) and decreased mortality.
“The cooperation with NOVUS International immediately broadens our access to the swine market in the United States. We expect strong growth in sales with this cooperation”, explains Dr. Bill Braman, VP Marketing and Sales Animal Health & Nutrition, Chr. Hansen NA.
I interviewed Dan Meagher (pronounced like mayor) at WPX last week and he talked about the deal with Chr. Hansen.
Listen to my interview with Dan here:
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You can also download Dan’s interview here: Dan Meagher (mp3)
A media event at World Pork Expo sponsored by Fort Dodge Animal Health gave the outlook in several different areas for hog producers – the market, H1N1 and control of Porcine Circovirus Type 2 (PCV2).
It goes without saying that the market outlook is pretty dismal. University of Missouri professor emeritus Glenn Grimes summarized his forecast simply. “Farrows trending down, continued productivity growth, fewer imports of Canadian hogs and pigs, decrease in pork exports, weak domestic demand, high feed costs, red ink for producers – and the bottom line is we have to reduce the herd five percent minimum and maybe ten.”
Download or listen to some of Dr. Grimes remarks here: Glenn Grimes
Dr. Greg Stevenson with the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory discussed swine influenza testing and USDA surveillance for swine flu. It was a pretty technical presentation that detailed the genetic difference between the H1N1 virus in humans and in swine. “When the USDA is going to be talking about surveillance, they’re going to be calling it H1N1 Flu Outbreak Virus (FOV), trying to distinguish it from the H1N1 that is in the swine population now in the U.S.,” said Dr. Stevenson. “We’ve got to talk about it intelligently and we’ve got to be careful to distinguish the two for the sake of the swine industry.” To talk intelligently about it, he says we’re all going to have to become virologists, and he proceeded to give a crash course in virology in 25 minutes. Learn more here.
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On the PCV2 control front, there is some good news for producers. Dr. Joe Connor, president of Carthage Veterinary Service, gave an update on PCV2 vaccines. Specifically, he talked about the efficacy of Suvaxyn PCV2 One Dose from Fort Dodge Animal Health. “We’ve had very high success with the vaccines in all the studies,” he reported. “We’ve shown in all of the studies that we are comfortable vaccinating with singe dose vaccines such as Suvaxyn at 3 or 5 weeks of age.” The studies done in commercial herds in the United States, Europe, Japan and New Zealand all indicated that Suvaxyn significantly reduced total mortality rate and improved growth performance. Nice to hear some positive news for pork producers!
Listen to Dr. Connor’s summary here.
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Attendance was down a bit at World Pork Expo this year due primarily to the impact of the H1N1 virus or “swine flu,” which kept away many international visitors who would normally attend. Washing and sanitizing of hands was stressed more than normal and the flu was a topic of press conferences, media interviews and general conversation.
As we all know, the “epidemic” started in Mexico, and I talked with Jorge Gonzalez, Novus International sales manager for northern Latin America, about the impact it has had on the pork industry in Mexico. “The name of the virus, swine flu, affected the consumption in Mexico,” Jorge said. “Consumption decreased 30 percent so the pork producers are in a very bad situation.” Like the U.S., Mexico has also been impacted by restrictions on pork imports from North America imposed by China and Russia.
However, Jorge says the industry remains optimistic about the future and they hope that within the next two months consumption will be back up to normal levels.
Listen or download Jorge’s interview here. Jorge Gonzalez
Seriously, what would a pork expo be without racing pigs? While World Pork Expo is a serious event for producers who want to find out the latest information about their industry, it’s also a family event with fun stuff like pig races.
Hendrick’s Racing Pigs provides the entertainment in the cattle barn on the Iowa State Fairgrounds. The races are short – only about a minute – but the fun part is the Pig Lady’s commentary as she introduces the little critters who are named with various themes. Here is a video of the “Redneck Racers” – which included Jeff Hogsworthy, Bill Spamball, Ham Salad, and Larry the Bacon Guy.
Boehringer Ingelheim gets the cool giveaway award for the World Pork Expo this year with their rechargeable pig flashlights.
These nifty little gadgets use no batteries, so they are eco-friendly and sustainable – how about that?! They were definitely the most in-demand item at the expo and B-I ran out of them by the third day. I got one of the last ones. But, for those not lucky enough to get one for free, they were selling them at the WPX store for just $5.
No one would argue (especially not the men!) that women are the backbone of the agriculture industry and during a seminar at World Pork Expo sponsored by Novus International titled “Women in Agriculture” we heard from two world-class women making a difference in the swine industry.
Dr. Laura Greiner, who does research for Innovative Swine Solutions and Carthage Veterinary Service in Illinois, talked about some of the work they have been doing to help improve sow performance through nutrition. She noted that she has almost all female interns this summer and she is pleased to see more women going into the field of livestock research. “That seems to be the predominant trend in the universities that I visit,” Laura said. “Women are becoming more interested and they need positive role models.”
Listen to or download my interview with Laura here. Dr. Laura Greiner
On the production side, we heard from Kathy Chinn with Chinn Hog Farm in northeast Missouri. Kathy is a former Missouri state representative who is very active in the agriculture and pork industry on both the state and national level and a real positive voice and face for agriculture. It was very interesting to hear her talk about their family operation, which includes her two sons and her grandchildren, and how they faced the challenges of farming in their community and grown better because of it. She is a strong advocate of telling agriculture’s story and being involved on a community level – and she is really a neat, impressive and interesting lady.
Listen or download Kathy’s interview here. Kathy Chinn
Another simply gorgeous day for the World Pork Expo. Today is the last day for the event – a change from previous years. The expo used to start on Thursday and end Saturday afternoon, shortly before judging of the Great Pork BarbeQlossal. The days for that event, which is sponsored by the National Pork Board, remain the same. Cooking starts later today with judging tomorrow.
There is rain in the forecast later today, but it could not have been more perfect this week with sunshine and temperatures in the 70s.
World Pork Expo 09 Photo Album
AgWired coverage of World Pork Expo made possible by Novus International and Boehringer Ingelheim
Participation in the Junior National Swine Show at World Pork Expo was up significantly this year. Apparently the kids don’t care that the hog industry is going through tough times right now!
Officials said there were over 2000 entries in the show this year, up from 1800 last year, and it is so funny to see some of these really young kids guiding their animals around the ring. This little guy got sixth place in a field of about 20 or so. He was a treat to watch. You can see more photos in the Flickr album.
World Pork Expo 09 Photo Album
AgWired coverage of World Pork Expo made possible by Novus International and Boehringer Ingelheim
The highlight of day two at World Pork Expo is the carving of the roasted hogs and there were four this year. We already saw Elvis Pigsly in the last post – here is the Novus International feast.
The hogs are roasted for almost 24 hours before they are carved up and offered for passers-by to enjoy, with a nice variety of sauces. Everyone at the expo looks forward to roasted hogs coming out at the end of a long day. Not many vegans here at WPX!
Doing the carving honors are Randy Anderson and Felipe Navarro of Novus. I interviewed both of them earlier in the day about what Novus has to offer for pork producers around the world.
Randy is National Sales Manager for Novus’ pork business in North America. He says they have expanded their product line in the past several years. “What we really focus on is gut health of the animal, how can we help get more out of the nutrition we are feeding them and bring more efficiency,” he says. Among the products they offer are Activate, which are part of their organic acid line, and Mintrex, a cost effective source of organic trace minerals.
Listen to or download my interview with Randy here: Randy Anderson
Felipe talked about supporting pork marketing on a global scale. “We have been improving the way we position our programs based on ROI, trying to bring better value to producers, reducing the cost of production so they get better efficiency,” Felipe said. Novus services producers in more than 80 countries and have offices in six of them.
The food is fine and the weather couldn’t be better at World Pork Expo this year.
As might be expected, there is lots and lots of pork available. The roasted whole hogs are coming out now, including Elvis Pigsly pictured here, and one right here in front of the Novus tent. There are four whole hogs coming out on the main drag of the expo where the grandstand is located and the bands are playing this beautiful sunny afternoon in Des Moines.
Even the food that isn’t pork here at the expo still has a piggish theme – like these cool cookies at the Boehringer Ingelheim tent. Gotta love it!
We have lots more pictures loaded in the photo album from Thursday at WPX and I have several interviews to edit, plus a view bonus videos of pig races and more. We are going to get it done soon, but the weather is just too sweet to not enjoy right now!
World Pork Expo 09 Photo Album
AgWired coverage of World Pork Expo made possible by Novus International and Boehringer Ingelheim
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, better knows as PRRS, costs the U.S. swine industry about $560 million a year, so eradicating that disease could have a significant impact for producers. Dr. Scott Dee with the Swine Disease Eradication Center at the University of Minnesota believes it is possible within 20 years.
“I’m going to be optimistic,” Dr. Dee said at a World Pork Expo press conference on Thursday organized by Boehringer Ingelheim.
He outlined several PRRS-control strategies that he believes show great promise for eradicating the disease. Among them, air filtration systems to control aerosol transmission of the virus, modified live vaccines used in an infected population to reduce spread of the virus within the herd, and oral fluid diagnostic sampling that he expects to completely replace blood sampling.
Other tools he says will help toward eradicating PRRS are geographical information systems and on-farm risk assessment programs, such as the PADRAP – Production Animal Disease Risk Assessment Program, which he called “a gift” from Boehringer Ingelheim to swine veterinarians.
Listen to Scott talk about why he is optimistic here:
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I also have an interview of Scott being interviewed by Chad Moyer with KRVN and Mike Murphy with KSUM/KFMC, pictured above, that I will try to get edited and posted later.
* post updated with interview below *
Interview with Dr. Scott Dee:
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A bright IDEA from Novus International could help both hog producers and the ethanol industry.
IDEA stands for “Immobilized Digestive Enzyme Assay” which Dr. Brad Lawrence says helps understand the digestibility of lysine and other amino acids in dried distillers grains (DDGS), the livestock feed by-product of ethanol production. “Distillers is one of the few ingredients that we have that does come from multiple manufacturing facilities with different methods that could impact amino acid digestibility,” Brad says. “We run this laboratory procedure that looks at all the digestibility of all the amino acids which gives us a tool to compare the economic value of distillers from different sources.”
Novus is working on a National Pork Board research project with the National Corn to Ethanol Research Center and the Universities of Illinois and Minnesota to find the best assays for determining amino acid digestibility of distillers grains. The results of that research are expected later this year.
You can listen to my interview with Brad here:
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The nation’s pork producers have recommitted themselves to the “We Care” program announced last year at World Pork Expo. The program was developed by the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and the National Pork Board (NPB) to help demonstrate that pork producers are committed to caring for their animals, producing safe food, protecting the environment and public health and giving back to the communities in which they live.
“Trust is not granted, it must be earned,” said NPPC president Don Butler of North Carolinaduring a press conference at Pork Expo Wednesday. To earn that trust, Don said the industry needs to prove to the public that they abide by ethical principles. “Everyone of us has a part in the overall effort to tell the positive story of pork production in America.” He outlined a five-step action plan for the industry – uphold the ethical principles everyday, obtain PQA Plus certification, register for premises identification, schedule PQA Plus site assessment and encourage TQA certification.
Nearly 31,000 pork producers have already been certified under the PQA Plus program that was announced two years ago. NPB president Steve Weaver of California says they are urging all producers to commit to the program and participate in the “We Care” initiative by December 31, 2010. “Through their participation, producers would abide by the statement of ethical principals, become Pork Quality Assurance Plus certified by June 20, 2010 and achieve PQA plus site status by December 31st,” he said.
In addition, AgStar Financial Services and Tyson Foods pledged new corporate support for the “We Care” program. AgStar Financial donated $50,000 to be used to develop and maintain a new web site dedicated to the “We Care” initiative which will be launched shortly. Tyson Foods donated $10,000 to be used for conducting on-farm assessments and the company will also now require all of its suppliers to become PQA Plus-certified by June of next year.
World Pork Expo 09 Photo Album
AgWired coverage of World Pork Expo made possible by Novus International
Sustainability is the buzz word in the livestock industry and Novus International is talking with producers at World Pork Expo about helping them make even more progress in that area.
“Those are the type of producers that we can really help with antibiotic-free solutions and products that help toward sustainable, natural production and at the end of the day it helps them capture more margin at the farm level,” says Bruce King, Director of Biologic Markets at Novus.
Bruce started with Novus in February and he says he is excited about the way the company is growing to serve the needs of all livestock producers and solve the problems that they are facing.
You can listen to my interview with Bruce here:
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The hog industry is hurting, but optimism still exists here at the World Pork Expo 2009.
Despite a year of plunging profits and flu fears, attendance is still expected to be pretty strong at the expo this year, according to general manager John Wrigley, who stopped by the Novus International tent for an interview. “We’re probably going to be down on international, the H1N1 virus caused some Asian groups not to come, but as far as regular attendance, it’s exactly what we would expect,” he said. “I’m pretty pleased right now.”
John says there are about 450 exhibitors at the expo this year, just about the same as last year, and that is what will motivates producers to attend. “The reason they come is to talk to the exhibitors, they want to know what products and services they have that will help them do a better job,” he said.
The big change this year is the days for the show. “We went to a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday instead of Thursday, Friday and Saturday,” said John. That was motivated by input from producers and exhibitors who said they would rather have the expo during the week instead of spilling into the weekend.
John notes that the World Pork Expo is totally a producer event, sponsored by the National Pork Producers Council. “Everything we do is for the producer,” John said. The National Pork Board does sponsor the Great Pork BarbeQlossal, which will be held here at the fairground on Friday and Saturday.
You can listen to my interview with John here:
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World Pork Expo 2009 is underway here in sunny Des Moines. Agwired is set up in the Novus International tent on the main drag of the Iowa State Fairgrounds. We do have wireless internet access this year at the tent – yeah! – but are waiting for a power strip so I can plug in.
Got the Flickr photo album set up here. It will be updated a couple times a day with more photos, so keep checking back.
AgWired coverage of World Pork Expo made possible by Novus International
I am packing my bags and getting ready to head off to Des Moines for World Pork Expo 2009.
Once again this year, Novus International will be our primary sponsor for coverage of WPX on Agwired. We are also pleased to have the support of Boehringer-Ingelheim for part of our coverage as well. We sincerely appreciate our sponsors and hope you do to, because without them we would not be able to bring you the sights and sounds of big agricultural events like this.
This year is the 21st annual World Pork Expo, which is the largest pork-industry trade show and exhibition in the world, drawing tens of thousands of pork producers, exhibitors and visitors from across the country and around the globe. New this year are the dates for the event, moving from a late-week event to mid-week event, as requested by many of the producers and exhibitors that attend the show each year.
Also new this year at World Pork Expo will be our middle daughter, Carly, who will be attending with me as my assistant. She just graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in general studies and as she spends the next year figuring out if she really wants to be a physical therapist, we will be introducing her to the exciting world of agricultural new media! Dad is going over the new programs he installed on her Mac and introducing her to the sweet new Canon Power Shot G10 we got for her to start as a semi-pro photographer. Carly is very artistically inclined and very people-oriented, so we hope this will be a great experience for her. Just look for this beautiful face at WPX and say hi!
AgWired coverage of World Pork Expo made possible by Novus International
Commodity Classic took place in Anaheim, CA. You'll find all of Chuck, Cindy and Joanna's photos here.
Happy Ag Week
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
In this week's program I interview Linda Tank, CHS, Inc., who is Chair of the Agriculture Council of America, the group coordinating National Ag Day. Learn more about their activities, especially this week in Washington, DC.
Even though there were less international visitors at Expo this year, the number of exhibitors was about the same as last year and they were pleased that to find that those pork producers they visited with were interested in products that would help them increase profitability in tough economic times. I talked with Novus International Director of Product Management Wendell Knehans about some of their products, such as dietary anti-oxidants, that help produce healthier animals.
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a major focus for 
Dr. Reid Phillips, with BI’s Swine Enteric Technical Services, says they strive to encourage collaborative research in the field and continue to evaluate their modified live vaccine (MLV) and the role it plays in PRRS control. “We know that the vaccine has been effective in a prophylactic model 3-4 weeks ahead of exposure for mitigation of infection,” Reid told me. “We are also looking at using the vaccine in a therapeutic model, reducing the amount of virus transmitted within positive populations.” He says the early evidence of that looks very good, which would mean lowering the risk of the virus moving within regions.
BioPlus 2B® contains two strains of Bacillus (Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus subtilis). These Bacillus strains can improve the intestinal microbial balance of swine. Safety studies have proven that BioPlus 2B® strains are totally safe to animals and humans. The data was compiled into more than 5,000 pages to get final approval in the European Union for all swine categories. It makes BioPlus 2B® the most extensively documented microbial for swine.
“This partnership compliments our GEMS nutrition program and gut health management portfolio,” stated Dan Meagher, Vice President, Americas. “NOVUS International is focused on providing producers, nutritionists and veterinarians with ways to optimize pig health and performance.”
A media event at World Pork Expo sponsored by 
Dr. Greg Stevenson with the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory discussed swine influenza testing and USDA surveillance for swine flu. It was a pretty technical presentation that detailed the genetic difference between the H1N1 virus in humans and in swine. “When the USDA is going to be talking about surveillance, they’re going to be calling it H1N1 Flu Outbreak Virus (FOV), trying to distinguish it from the H1N1 that is in the swine population now in the U.S.,” said Dr. Stevenson. “We’ve got to talk about it intelligently and we’ve got to be careful to distinguish the two for the sake of the swine industry.” To talk intelligently about it, he says we’re all going to have to become virologists, and he proceeded to give a crash course in virology in 25 minutes. Learn more here. 
On the PCV2 control front, there is some good news for producers. Dr. Joe Connor, president of Carthage Veterinary Service, gave an update on PCV2 vaccines. Specifically, he talked about the efficacy of 
Attendance was down a bit at World Pork Expo this year due primarily to the impact of the H1N1 virus or “swine flu,” which kept away many international visitors who would normally attend. Washing and sanitizing of hands was stressed more than normal and the flu was a topic of press conferences, media interviews and general conversation.
As we all know, the “epidemic” started in Mexico, and I talked with Jorge Gonzalez, Novus International sales manager for northern Latin America, about the impact it has had on the pork industry in Mexico. “The name of the virus, swine flu, affected the consumption in Mexico,” Jorge said. “Consumption decreased 30 percent so the pork producers are in a very bad situation.” Like the U.S., Mexico has also been impacted by restrictions on pork imports from North America imposed by China and Russia.
Seriously, what would a pork expo be without racing pigs? While World Pork Expo is a serious event for producers who want to find out the latest information about their industry, it’s also a family event with fun stuff like pig races. 
Dr. Laura Greiner, who does research for Innovative Swine Solutions and 
On the production side, we heard from Kathy Chinn with Chinn Hog Farm in northeast Missouri. Kathy is a former Missouri state representative who is very active in the agriculture and pork industry on both the state and national level and a real positive voice and face for agriculture. It was very interesting to hear her talk about their family operation, which includes her two sons and her grandchildren, and how they faced the challenges of farming in their community and grown better because of it. She is a strong advocate of telling agriculture’s story and being involved on a community level – and she is really a neat, impressive and interesting lady.
Another simply gorgeous day for the World Pork Expo. Today is the last day for the event – a change from previous years. The expo used to start on Thursday and end Saturday afternoon, shortly before judging of the 
Participation in the 
The highlight of day two at World Pork Expo is the carving of the roasted hogs and there were four this year. We already saw Elvis Pigsly in the last post – here is the Novus International feast.
The food is fine and the weather couldn’t be better at World Pork Expo this year.
Even the food that isn’t pork here at the expo still has a piggish theme – like these cool cookies at the Boehringer Ingelheim tent. Gotta love it!
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, better knows as PRRS, costs the U.S. swine industry about $560 million a year, so eradicating that disease could have a significant impact for producers. Dr. Scott Dee with the Swine Disease Eradication Center at the University of Minnesota believes it is possible within 20 years.
He outlined several PRRS-control strategies that he believes show great promise for eradicating the disease. Among them, air filtration systems to control aerosol transmission of the virus, modified live vaccines used in an infected population to reduce spread of the virus within the herd, and oral fluid diagnostic sampling that he expects to completely replace blood sampling. 
IDEA stands for “Immobilized Digestive Enzyme Assay” which Dr. Brad Lawrence says helps understand the digestibility of lysine and other amino acids in dried distillers grains (DDGS), the livestock feed by-product of ethanol production. “Distillers is one of the few ingredients that we have that does come from multiple manufacturing facilities with different methods that could impact amino acid digestibility,” Brad says. “We run this laboratory procedure that looks at all the digestibility of all the amino acids which gives us a tool to compare the economic value of distillers from different sources.”
The nation’s pork producers have recommitted themselves to the 
“Trust is not granted, it must be earned,” said NPPC president Don Butler of North Carolinaduring a press conference at Pork Expo Wednesday. To earn that trust, Don said the industry needs to prove to the public that they abide by ethical principles. “Everyone of us has a part in the overall effort to tell the positive story of pork production in America.” He outlined a five-step action plan for the industry – uphold the ethical principles everyday, obtain PQA Plus certification, register for premises identification, schedule PQA Plus site assessment and encourage TQA certification.
Nearly 31,000 pork producers have already been certified under the PQA Plus program that was announced two years ago. NPB president Steve Weaver of California says they are urging all producers to commit to the program and participate in the “We Care” initiative by December 31, 2010. “Through their participation, producers would abide by the statement of ethical principals, become Pork Quality Assurance Plus certified by June 20, 2010 and achieve PQA plus site status by December 31st,” he said.
Sustainability is the buzz word in the livestock industry and 
Despite a year of plunging profits and flu fears, attendance is still expected to be pretty strong at the expo this year, according to general manager John Wrigley, who stopped by the 
I am packing my bags and getting ready to head off to Des Moines for 
This year is the 21st annual World Pork Expo, which is the largest pork-industry trade show and exhibition in the world, drawing tens of thousands of pork producers, exhibitors and visitors from across the country and around the globe. New this year are the dates for the event, moving from a late-week event to mid-week event, as requested by many of the producers and exhibitors that attend the show each year.
Also new this year at World Pork Expo will be our middle daughter, Carly, who will be attending with me as my assistant. She just graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in general studies and as she spends the next year figuring out if she really wants to be a physical therapist, we will be introducing her to the exciting world of agricultural new media! Dad is going over the new programs he installed on her Mac and introducing her to the sweet new Canon Power Shot G10 we got for her to start as a semi-pro photographer. Carly is very artistically inclined and very people-oriented, so we hope this will be a great experience for her. Just look for this beautiful face at WPX and say hi!
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
