With all the administration and policy changes that have happened in the past, there’s no question the U.S. pork industry has been busy advocating for producers in a period of great uncertainty. Duane Stateler, National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) president, joined Bryan Humphreys, NPPC CEO, Kylee Deniz, Oklahoma Pork Council state executive, and Maria Zieba, NPPC vice president of government affairs, to kick off the World Pork Expo on June 4 in Des Moines, Iowa.
“Uncertainty is common for farmers. Most of our producers raise pigs and livestock and grow crops,” Stateler says. “You’re used to that uncertainty with the crops – whether it’s going to rain, whether it is going to be dry. The same thing happens on the pork side. But you like it when the markets are calm and easy because that’s one less thing you have to worry about.”
Here’s a breakdown of the key priorities these leaders are focused on now as they try to create more certainty for U.S. pork producers.
1. Trade. “Trade is vitally important for our industry,” Zieba says. “Our top priority remains and will continue to be market access into Vietnam. We see this as a huge opportunity for our U.S. pork exports. Not only because there’s 100 million people in Vietnam whose No. 1 protein consumption is pork, but also as we look at diversifying away from certain markets, Vietnam has an opportunity that is very unique.”
Vietnamese consumers value muscle cuts, but they also eat a lot of offals, she says. The U.S. needs to diversify its customer base for offals because more than 50% are currently destined for China.
“Whenever we have a trade disruption that’s certainly an impact on domestic producers,” Zieba says. “The U.S. pork industry is in a very unique position. We had a huge win earlier this year with China where they approved over 300 of our pork processing plants and our cold storage facilities for pork. We continue to have that access to export product to China. The same cannot be said for some of the other proteins. We’re very thankful for all the hard work and efforts that were made by the administration to make U.S. pork market access a priority into China.”
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