Randy Spronk elected as chair of USMEF

Nov 13, 2023

Spronk say exports will be key to recovery for the pork market in 2024

By Jean-Paul McDonald
Farms.com
Photo credit: USMEF

The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) announced that Randy Spronk, president and managing partner for Spronk Brothers Holding, was elected chair of USMEF.

Spronk is a past president of the National Pork Producers Council as well as the Pork Producers Association.

Spronk is prioritizing exporting U.S. beef, pork and lamb in the international marketplace.

Spronk acknowledged that the US is experiencing domestic demand challenges for a variety of reasons, but he believes focusing on the international markets will bring profitability back to the domestic swine industry.

“I think it's very important that we actually focus again on our exports,” said Spronk in an audio report. “I think it's one of the things that we've identified in the swine industry is our story on sustainability. That can differentiate. It's because of how we produce our feed. It's about our corn and our soybean, how we utilize that that is our sustainability story that nobody else in the world can replicate."

Video: Screening Nursery Ingredients - Kynna Crawford

In this episode of The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, Kynna Crawford, Graduate Research Assistant at South Dakota State University, discusses how Plackett-Burman designs can help screen nursery diet ingredients for early post-weaning feed intake. She explains why low intake after weaning contributes to stress and mortality, how screening trials can evaluate multiple ingredients in a single study, and how the approach can support both research and commercial nursery nutrition decisions. Listen now on all major platforms!

Click here to read the full research article: https://academic.oup.com/jas/article/...

"A single screening trial can help identify which nursery ingredients deserve deeper research for early post-weaning feed intake."

Meet the guest: Kynna Crawford / kynna-crawford-a2610a3aa is a Master's student in Animal Sciences at South Dakota State University, where her work focuses on swine nutrition and nursery pig management. Her research examines strategies to alleviate weaning stress, including dietary approaches and screening tools to identify ingredients that may promote early feed intake. Learn more from Kynna Crawford on The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, available on all major platforms.