As Dr. Steve Meyer explained in his September column, I will be taking over his spot writing for National Hog Farmer. I do not take this responsibility lightly. Dr. Meyer had a long, storied career and a big part of that was educating readers about the latest developments and key issues in hog and pork markets. I am honored to continue on that path. I sincerely thank Dr. Meyer for mentoring me and all that he has taught us over the years. For my inaugural article, I will discuss the latest Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report. Agreed, the report USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service released Sept. 26 is already old news. Rather than re-massaging the numbers, I will dive deeper into the report and USDA’s process for estimating inventories and how it makes revisions. Hopefully insight on how inconsistencies occur will aid in interpreting future reports. USDA begins working on a report before surveying producers for data. The hog statistician at NASS headquarters, livestock branch c
The Iowa Pork Producers Association agreed to NIL (name, image, likeness) deals with all 19 Iowa State University student-athletes that participated in the ‘Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon’ video tryouts. Each of them is getting paid by Iowa Pork for helping encourage consumers to purchase more ham and bacon, and other pork products. Participants included more than a dozen members of the Iowa State Cyclone football team, which is currently 6-0 and ranked ninth in the country, and four members of the Iowa State women’s basketball team, which is projected to finish second in the Big 12 Conference this year. A mashup of all the tryout videos was released Monday and is available for your use at this link. “We are thrilled to partner with these 19 exceptional student-athletes at Iowa State University to help us promote the pork industry,” said Matt Gent, a pig farmer from Wellman, Iowa and president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association. “Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon’ has been a very popular
The federal and Ontario governments have awarded over $12.2 million through the first intake of a new program aimed at helping farmers in the province protect their land from extreme weather.
The Rural Ontario Institute (ROI) is pleased to announce the launch of the 2024 Rural Change Makers (RCM) Program.
Dr. Jude Kong, the Canadian Research Chair in Community-Oriented Artificial Intelligence and Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Disease at the University of Toronto, highlights the importance of engaging local communities in animal health and welfare strategies.
