For the first time since 2018, pork producers from across the country are convening this week in Des Moines, Iowa for the World Pork Expo. The event was canceled in 2019 out of an abundance of caution as African Swine Fever spread throughout China and other parts of Asia. The 2020 event was canceled due to COVID-19.
Indiana Pork Executive Director Josh Trenary is on hand for this year’s World Pork Expo, and he says it’s good to be back.
“I know I’m excited to be here. It’s good to see people in ‘the wild’ and not through a computer screen. All the Pork Expo volunteers and staff seem to be pretty happy to be here. I know the NPPC (National Pork Producers Council) folks were really looking forward to getting back to a live, in-person event. A lot of careful consideration went into this.”
The National Pork Producers Council discussed top legislative priorities at the Expo, the first of which is a recent court decision striking down faster harvest facility line speeds. Trenary says that will hit pork producers, especially Indiana pork producers, hard.
“While it’s something that might impact up to 2.5% of the nation’s processing is important to all producers, it definitely hits Indiana hard with having several producers in the state that are utilizing one of the plants that were using those increased speeds for their processing. So, we’re definitely going to have some farmers in Indiana disproportionately impacted by that.”
You can read more about the line speed issue and the impact it will have for Indiana pork producers here and here.