At the 2022 Pork Congress, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, visited with the CEO of the National Pork Board, Bill Even, on educating today’s consumers about the pork industry.
Even represents the Pork Checkoff, which he said represents the nation’s 60,000 pork producers. While research, education and promotion are important, Even said the board of directors at the Pork Checkoff is interested in understanding producers’ perceptions of the pork industry before tackling promotion work.
Even said the Pork Checkoff conducted research in the past focused on asking consumers what the reason might be if they are considering purchasing less red meat and pork in particular. When talking to consumers, Even said their concerns are generally around how well the pigs, planet, and people in the industry are taken care of.
“These folks are just wanting to know how their food is raised,” Even said. “Our work here under the Real Pork banner here at the Pork Checkoff is to help address those questions.”
Even said that pork producers stand behind ethics, hold themselves to high standards, and audits are conducted frequently throughout the industry. It is important that the consumer knows this, he added.
“Another thing that we do is around sustainability,” Even said. “We are doing on-farm sustainability reports on behalf of the Pork Checkoff from a lot of producers around the country. That way, there is real information that a real local producer can have at his fingertips or her fingertips to talk to people in their community.”
As members of the community, Even said pork producers need to be engaged and involved in their communities in a positive way. Pork Checkoff prioritizes helping producers understand what their role in their community looks like.
For their research, Even said farmers across 17 states are represented that are sitting down and looking at how they are farming their land, raising their animals, and applying the nutrients back to the land to grow their crops.
“We are finding some really surprisingly good information,” Even said. “The pork industry contributes less than one-half of one percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, and we are finding a lot of pork producers are actually already carbon neutral. For the consuming public, that is important for them to know.”
Even also talked about high input prices taking a toll on pork producers.
“Of course, anybody that is in the livestock production business is watching the price of corn and soybeans and soybean meal,” Even said. “Consumers out there are seeing it in food price inflation themselves.”
Pork producers are in that same situation, Even said, and they are watching the cost of their inputs and the cost of what they can get for their pigs when they sell them.
“We look at price data of course on a daily basis and pork has held up surprisingly well in demand studies across the U.S., so consumers really see the value equation with pork, and we are seeing sales domestically continue to remain very strong,” Even said.
As for international pork sales, Even said the pork industry has been able to grow double the normal rate because they have been able to grow exports.
“Today we will export between 25 and 30 percent of our production,” Even said.
With global supply chain problems and some of these geopolitical issues in Asia, Even said they are looking at a diverse set of markets locally.
Lastly, Even talked about how the Real Pork campaign has been able to provide consumers with authentic information about how their pork is raised.
“Real Pork is real farmers on real farms raising real pigs that produce real pork and our methodology is pretty straightforward,” Even said. “We want to do what is right for people, pigs, and the planet.”
Click the LISTEN BAR below to hear more from Ron Hays and Bill Even talking about proving an authentic message for pork consumers.
