A pork producer from Richards, MO, has been named president of the 15-member National Pork Board.
Everett Forkner is the owner and president of Forkner Farms Inc., which consists of 550 purebred sows and markets 7,500 hogs/year. Forkner and his family also raise corn, soybeans and wheat on 2,000 acres in west central Missouri.
National Pork Board members also elected pork producer Conley Nelson from Algona, IA, vice president and Montgomery, MN, pork producer Karen Richter treasurer. All three will serve one-year terms.
Forkner has sold purebred pigs in Europe, China and Southeast Asia. The animal science graduate of the University of Missouri has maintained his passion for improving swine genetics. He has served as president and on the board of the American Landrace Association and on the board of the United Duroc Association.
Forkner has a long history of service to the pork industry at the local, state and national level, including serving on the Missouri Pork Producers Association board of directors. He is past president of the Vernon County Pork Producers and is also a member of the Vernon County Farm Bureau and Vernon County Cattlemen’s Association.
He is serving his second, three-year term on the National Pork Board. He has chaired the Animal Science Committee, and has served on the Niche Committee and the Nutritional Efficiency Consortium. At the board level, he serves on the Administrative Committee.
Nelson is the general manager of the Murphy-Brown LLC Midwest operations, which consists of 89,000 sows and markets 3.7 million hogs/year. He also owns a 4,400-head, wean-to-finish operation.
Nelson is a graduate of the Pork Checkoff’s Leadership Academy and is serving his second, three-year term on the National Pork Board.
Nelson has served on the Iowa Pork Producers Association board of directors, its audit committee, the membership and leadership committee, swine health and animal well-being committees. He is a member of the Kossuth County Pork Producers and the Humboldt County Farm Bureau.
Richter owns and operates a 185-sow, farrow-to-finish operation that markets 3,300 hogs/year. She and her family also raise corn, soybeans and wheat on 650 acres.
Nationally, she has served on the Pork Checkoff Trade Committee and is an Operation Main Street presenter. She has also served on the Checkoff Nominating Committee, the Plan of Work Task Force and as a Pork Act delegate.
Richter served on the Minnesota Pork Board executive board and numerous committees. She has been active locally in the LeSueur County Pork Producers. She has held several offices including state director, treasurer and vice president and has chaired several committees including ambassador, scholarship and membership.