Missouri hog farmer Everett Forkner is the new president of the National Pork Board. He is owner and president of Forkner Farms Inc., which has 550 purebred sows and markets 7,500 hogs per year. With members of his family, he also raises corn, soybeans and wheat on 2,000 acres in west central Missouri.

Everett takes the helm of the 15 member pork board as the checkoff celebrates its silver anniversary and anticipates golden opportunities for the industry. “I think we live in some very challenging times but we also live in some very exciting times in the pork industry,” Everett said during the NPB press conference at World Pork Expo Wednesday.

He was pleased to announce that the board voted to spend some extra advertising dollars this year. “We’ve seen first hand the results of the new campaign ‘Pork Be Inspired’ and with some additional funds we were able to vote to continue this project into the fall with an additional $5 million to be put into the Be Inspired campaign.”

“People who already eat pork just have to eat a little more, and that’s our target audience,” he added.

The pork board also added $1.2 million for export marketing efforts and another $265,000 is allocated for cooking temperature education. The pork industry is really excited about new cooking guidelines for pork just released last week by USDA officially confirming that the other white meat is perfectly safe when cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit.

Press conference audio from Forkner: NPB president Everett Forkner

2011 World Pork Expo Photo Album