Apply now - $25k in pork industry scholarships

Oct 25, 2024
By Farms.com

Pursue Ag careers with NPPC scholarships

The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) is excited to announce the opening of the 2025 Lois Britt Memorial Pork Industry Scholarship application period. This prestigious scholarship, supported by CME Group and the National Pork Industry Foundation, grants ten $2,500 scholarships each year to college students who are poised to take leadership roles within the pork industry.

NPPC President Lori Stevermer highlighted the significance of nurturing new talent - “The strength of America’s pork industry lies in the hands of its future leaders.” This scholarship program is crucial for empowering students who are eager to contribute to the pork industry’s future.

Candidates must be undergraduate students enrolled in a two-year swine program or a four-year agriculture college. They are evaluated based on their essay responses to issues and potential solutions within the pork industry. The chosen recipients will be celebrated at the National Pork Industry Forum in Orlando, Florida, in March 2025.

The scholarship honors Lois Britt, a former NPPC board director and a passionate supporter of agricultural development during her tenures at the North Carolina Cooperative Extension and Smithfield Hog Production.

Interested students should apply by December 13, 2024. For more information, contact Jacob Sterle, NPPC’s Director of Industry Resource Development, via website – Click Here

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.