Agricultural News
Rod Brenneman of Seaboard Foods Inducted into Oklahoma Pork Hall of Fame
Fri, 25 Mar 2011 5:35:18 CDT
The Oklahoma Pork Council presented their highest award that can be given to a member of the organization- Hall of Fame membership- to Rod Brenneman who currently serves as the President and CEO of Seaboard Foods. The award was presented to Brenneman at the 2011 Oklahoma Pork Congress in Midwest City on Thursday. After the presentation, we talked with Brenneman about the honor and how Seaboard has established itself as a world class processor of pork in the Oklahoma Panhandle. We also discussed the current status of the Japanese market- and Brenneman expressed the company's concern for the well being of the Japanese people impacted by the earthquake and tsunami, but also predicted that little disruption would be seen in shipping fresh pork into Japan by the company. Click on the LISTEN BAR at the bottom of the story to hear our audio conversation with Rod Brenneman.
In the video presentation produced by the OPC for the Hall of Fame award, Brenneman told the lunch audience that "on a fresh pork basis to Japan, we export more fresh pork out of this plant in Guymon, Oklahoma than virtually any other comapny in the United States with all of their plants combined."
Click on the play button on the You Tube screen here to see the full presentation honoring this 22 year veteran of Seaboard Foods.
Brenneman started with the company in 1989 and, during his first five years, was involved in many of the company's early business ventures and acquisitions. He was a key driver behind Seaboard Foods developing a vertically integrated production and processing model. Brenneman had significant input into the selection of Oklahoma as a site for pork production, including acquiring the PIC facilities near Hennessey and opening the processing plant in Guymon.
"There were certain factors we looked at when selecting the sites for our facilities," Brenneman said. "We needed enough land, low population density, abundance of grain, water availability but without groundwater at the surface, and low humidity." Seaboard picked the region of Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and Colorado. They then selected a city in each state to research its prospects as a location for the processing plant.
"Guymon, Okla., opened their arms and welcomed us into the community," said Brenneman. "They rolled out the red carpet to us and embraced this type of project."
"When we did our due diligence on Seaboard, we really got excited," said Jess Nelson, retired mayor of Guymon. "We found out that they were a real company and they would follow through with what they said they would do. This partnership has been mutually beneficial for Seaboard and our community."
So, Seaboard's venture into pork production began and in 1996 Rod was named senior vice president, live production. In that role, Brenneman oversaw all the people and animals in the live production division.
"Rod understands that it all starts with the people that work out on the farms and he holds them in high regard," said Joe Popplewell, cell 1 manager for Seaboard Foods. "He knows that a healthy community for employees to live and work in is very important."
Brenneman has supported Oklahoma's pork industry as a whole by lending advice and leadership to the Oklahoma Pork Council. He served on the search committee for the OPC executive director in 1999 which selected OPC's current executive director, Roy Lee Lindsey, Jr.
"Over the years, Rod has provided very important guidance to me as an individual and the organization in general," said Lindsey. "He's always had a genuine appreciation for the value of OPC and has done all he could to help us be successful."
In 2001, Brenneman moved into the role of president and CEO of Seaboard Foods where he has led the company's efforts to focus on continuous improvement and also adding value to agricultural products.
"There is no greater example of value-added agriculture than taking the grain grown in Oklahoma, turning it into feed for hogs, harvesting the meat from those hogs and shipping it around the world," Brenneman said. They have taken adding value a couple of steps further by working with a Japanese company to develop a soup stock company that uses by-products from their pork processing plant to make flavoring packets for soup. And they have developed a plant adjacent to their processing facility that turns the white fat, a byproduct with little value, into biodiesel.
Rod is also committed to directing Seaboard Foods to listen to their customers' needs and produce products that meet those needs. Their two largest export markets are Japan and Mexico. Trading with international customers takes a great deal of attention to detail and focus. The Japanese customer is a very high-quality, food-safety conscious consumer. Brenneman said they had more than 100 Japanese customers go through their plant before they killed the first hog in an effort to learn what the customer wanted.
"We built this company with a focus on exports and international business," said Brenneman. "And still today we pride ourselves on listening and striving to meet the needs of our domestic and international customers."
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