National Pork Board to Meet Prior to World Pork Expo

The National Pork Board will meet in Des Moines, IA, on Tuesday, June 5, to elect new officers and to consider mid-year adjustments to the 2012 budget.

Pork Board President Everett Forkner, a pork producer from Richards, MO, will complete his one-year term as president at the meeting. As past president, he will remain on the board's executive committee for one year. Other members of the executive committee are Vice President Conley Nelson of Algona, IA, and Treasurer Karen Richter of Montgomery, MN. The board will elect a new president, vice president and treasurer from among its members.

Pork Board members also will be asked to approve several requests from its staff for supplemental funding for the remainder of 2012. Among those requests are:

• $550,000 for fall television advertising to promote pork at a historically slow time for pork sales.
• $500,000 to support additional international market development opportunities through the American Pork Export Trading Company.
• $40,000 for U.S. pork promotions in Central and South America through the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
• $34,000 for additional costs related to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's oversight of the Pork Checkoff.
• $30,000 for a benchmark survey addressing worker safety on farms.

The board will begin the meeting in executive session so it can meet with the auditing firm that recently completed its annual examination of the board's most recent yearly financial statement.

 The board's session open to the public is scheduled to begin at about 10:30 a.m., when it will hear a report from agricultural economist Steve Meyer, president of Paragon Economics, on the recent completion of a Pork Checkoff Return on Investment study required every five years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This year's survey, conducted by economists at Cornell University, concluded that, overall, pork producers receive $17.40 in value from research, promotion and other activities for each dollar they invest in the Pork Checkoff.

Meyer also is expected to update the board on a University of Minnesota study of swine production costs.

 Other items on the board's agenda include:

• A report on the activities and budget of the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance, of which the National Pork Board is a founding member.
• A report on the activities of the U.S. Pork Center for Excellence, a consortium of pork organizations and land-grant universities.
• Discussions with board members of the National Pork Producers Council on issues of mutual interest.

To attend the National Pork Board meeting, contact Lorraine Garner, lgarner@pork.org, (515) 223-2600.