Hailed the “smartest man in the room” by many pork producers, Ron Plain has spent his career focused on his passion for education and his passion for the pork industry. On March 9, the National Pork Board recognized Plain, professor emeritus and extension economist in Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Missouri- Columbia, with its Distinguished Service Award at the 2023 Pork Forum.
Plain spent a semester in college as a nuclear engineering major, but changed trajectories when he realized the lack of available career opportunities. He changed majors and enrolled in agricultural education at the University of Missouri. After receiving his degree, he taught ag for three years before returning to the classroom as a student. He completed a Ph.D. in agricultural economics at Oklahoma State University and moved back to Missouri to join the University of Missouri faculty.
For the next 35 years, Plain gave more than 2,100 presentations to farm audiences across the country, living out the land-grant mission and helping producers understand the economic forces related to their pork production business.
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