Takeaways From Iowa Swine Day

Friday, July 7, 2023

Pork producers and enthusiasts from across the country gathered in Iowa in late June to learn the ways to reach a brighter future.

Stacie Matchan is a program specialist with the Iowa Pork Industry Center, a branch of Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, which hosts programs such as Iowa Swine Day.

It's the center's biggest annual event, she said, with 550 registered guests this year. Matchan said the event has "a little bit of everything for everybody", with attendees ranging from Canada to all over the U.S.

"We do have a lot of producers, allied industry, academia, veterinarians," she said of the attendees at Iowa Swine Day. "That's why we do our morning plenary sessions as more big picture talks, and then our afternoon breakouts we kind of get a little more specialized for people."

Matchan said the biggest topics covered at this year's Iowa Swine Day were sustainability, foreign animal disease and labor, during a tough year for pork farmers in the country.

"It's been tough, and you know, hopefully it gets better," she said. "But it's great to see so many here, when times are tough, and labor is short — the support of this program is still at the top of their minds."

The future of sustainability

Joseph Kerns, president of Partners for Production Agriculture, gave an overview of the many ways that carbon market could impact animal agriculture.

"Who is going to regulate the carbon markets, and how are we going to do that?" asked Kerns. "It became painfully evident that we're not going to have any regulation of carbon markets anytime soon, and that's where we find ourselves right now, in this ambiguous space."

Banks Baker, global director of product sustainability for Pig Improvement Company, said that shareholder proposals on greenhouse gas emissions rose to an average of 59% last year compared to 25% in 2017.