Pork

The Shrinking Slice: Farmers Receive Less Than 6 Cents of Every Food Dollar

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 20:30:40 GMT

For the past two years, USDA has estimated farmers and ranchers received less than 6 cents of every food dollar. In 2023, that was 5.9 cents, and using the latest data from 2024, it’s 5.8 cents.

“Our oldest data point right now is 2007 [USDA updated the data series] and that’s 14.7 cents per dollar, and now we’re down all the way to 11.8 cents per dollar,” says Faith Parum, economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation. “So we’ve really seen that decline year after year. It reflects how much of the value of things in the grocery store or when you go out to eat is going to other parts of the supply chain and not necessarily to farmers and ranchers.”

Livestock vs. Crops: A Widening Gap

The aggregate decline masks a widening gap between sectors. While the overall farmer share is down, livestock and crop producers are seeing divergent trends:

Crop Farmers: Share dropped from 2.9 cents to 2.5 cents (a 2.5% year-over-year decrease).
Livestock Producers: Share increased from 3 cents to 3.3 cents.

“Overall, the farmer share is down. But we have those two markets really at odds,” Parum says. “We’ve seen that tale of two farm economies where our livestock producers maybe have seen a little bit of better days than they had had in the past, while our row crop farmers and our specialty crop farmers are really facing strong headwinds in the market.”

Effect at the Farm Gate

As highlighted by USDA, farm finances are quickly strained when farmers/ranchers are capturing a small percentage of the food dollar and even modest swings in commodity prices and/or input prices take place.

Parum adds, “when we talk about the health of our farms and the health of future generations on the farm, and being economically viable and sustainable and being able to keep their operations open, the trends we’re seeing right now are really hard for those farmers. Our ranchers are seeing a little bit of better days right now with high beef prices, but that’s not going to last forever, and with production expenses continuing to increase, we’re really going to see that that question come up of, what is sustainable if, if these dollars we’re spending in the grocery store aren’t making it back to our farmers.”

Where Does the Money Get Distributed?

The key takeaway: farmers produce the raw commodities that make food production, however, the price is clearly more determined by what happens after the products first leave the farm.

The USDA Food Dollar Series tracks how each dollar is spent by consumers and then divides it across the industries contributing to the value in the supply chain, such as farming, food processing, transportation, packaging, wholesaling, retail and food service. As noted by the USDA, with each step in the process, the additional services, labor, transportation and infrastructure add value and increase costs to the final food product.

USDA’s Economic Research Service Food Dollar Series shows in 2024, farmers received 11.8 cents of every dollar spent on domestically produced food, the remaining 88.2 cents of the food dollar went toward the ‘marketing bill’, which includes costs associated with food processing, transportation, packaging, wholesaling, retailing and food service. Over time, this shift illustrates how an increasing share of food spending is driven by services and supply chain activities rather than farm production itself.

Groceries Leave the Most on The Table For Farmers

Farmers’ share of consumer food spending varies widely depending on the type of food purchased. For example, the farm share of the food-at-home dollar was 18.5 cents in 2024, up slightly from 18.4 cents in 2023. But even in this category it means only than one-fifth of what consumers spend on groceries goes back to farmers.

As you may expect, products with minimal processing, require less of the value to be retained in that part of the food system, and therefore return a larger share of the food dollar to producers.

“The highest commodity that gets the most of that food dollar is fresh eggs,” Parum notes. “That’s just because there’s limited labor to process that food.”

Examples include:

Fresh Eggs: 69.1 cents (+6% from 2023)
Beef: 52.2 cents (+4.8%)
Fresh Milk: 50.8 cents (+5.6%)
Pork: 23.7 cents (+7.2%)
Poultry (+3.1%)
Fish (+2.8%)
Tree nuts and peanuts (-1.7%)
Fresh fruits and vegetables (unchanged)
Bakery Products: 4.8 cents (-9.4%)
Soft Drinks/Bottled Water: 1.3 cents (-7.1%)

A $10.4 Trillion Engine: Agriculture Drives One-Fifth of the U.S. Economy

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 12:46:57 GMT

Did you know that close to one in every three jobs nationwide is tied to food and agriculture? The latest Feeding the Economy Report says food and agriculture support about 49 million jobs, which is about 30% of total U.S. employment. Although less than 2% are on the farm, when you add food manufacturing, wholesale and retail, that adds another 24 million jobs, or about 15% of the workforce.

Each year, the Feeding the Economy Report measures the downstream, off-the-farm economic impact of U.S. agriculture. Danny Munch, an economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, says the report tracks three layers of impact.

“When you combine those layers, ag supports about $10.4 trillion in economic output, or about one-fifth of the entire U.S. economy,” Munch said on the Newsline podcast .

2025: $900-Billion Growth in U.S. Agricultural Industry

The U.S. agricultural industry grew by nearly $900 billion over the past year, according to this study led each year by the Corn Refiners Association and sponsored by three dozen agriculture and food organizations, including the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC).

The first layer is direct activity, which includes the base level of food and ag production that is traditionally measured. It also measures supply industries like transportation, finance, equipment manufacturing and inputs in the second layer. The third includes the ripple effects of those two stages on how wages are earned and spent throughout the rest of the system.

“So, all the benefits we were talking about – jobs, wages, tax revenue – they’re tied to where that production happens,” Munch says. “If production shifts overseas due to cost pressures, regulatory burdens or competitive challenges, that economic activity moves with it. So, it’s not just about the food supply, it’s about all these other jobs, tax revenue and economic commerce that supports industries across every corner of every state.”

The report includes a state-by-state breakdown of agriculture’s economic impact, showing total jobs, wages, output, taxes and exports. Key findings include:

Food and agriculture generated more than $3 trillion in wages for U.S. workers, with wages rising 4% year-over-year and 13% over the past decade.
Food manufacturing remains the largest manufacturing sector in the U.S., employing almost 2.3 million workers.
U.S. food and agriculture exports were more than $177 billion, though exports declined by $5.4 billion year-over-year, underscoring the need for maintaining strong trade agreements and expanding market access for American products.
The food and agriculture sector produced $1.35 trillion in tax revenue for federal, state and local governments, a 7% increase year-over-year.

“The report confirms the incredible, positive impacts of agriculture on our country,” says NPPC CEO Bryan Humphreys. “America’s 60,000-plus pork producers are proud to help drive this force that provides our food and other agriculture products—and the opportunity to be part of something bigger than themselves by carrying on a tradition of taking care of their families, neighbors, animals and land, and at heart, a way of living that often has been passed down for generations.”

U.S. pork producers annually generate more than $37 billion in personal income, contribute more than $62 billion in GDP, and support more than 573,000 jobs in the U.S. economy, NPPC adds.

Reciprocity and Balance: The New Blueprint for U.S. Agricultural Trade Agreements

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 21:01:52 GMT

Ambassador Julie Callahan is the chief ag negotiator at the U.S. Trade Representative, and she reports positive momentum toward rebuilding trade agreements equating to a positive U.S. ag trade balance.

“We came into a situation in January 2025 where the US ag trade deficit was ballooning in a really unsustainable manner,” she says.

At the beginning of 2025, USDA forecasted a $50 billion deficit for U.S. agricultral trade.

“Compare that to an agricultural trade surplus in 2020 when President Trump left office, of a $6 billion surplus. So we were $56 billion in the hole, you might say, at the beginning of the administration, but through the efforts of the president ensuring trading partners understand they need to treat U.S. farmers and ranchers right, we are seeing real shifts in our trade balance and chipping away at the deficit toward a surplus.”

Trade Wins Highlighted by Government Officials

Callahan points to eight signed trade agreements with: Malaysia, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Argentina, Bangladesh, Taiwan and Indonesia. She says these are binding agreements, where the foreign governments are:

lowering tariffs for U.S. ag products
removing unfair trade practices
and lifting regulatory barriers

“These are serious binding trade agreements that will deliver real value for U.S. farmers and ranchers,” Callahan says. And when asked if Congressional action to codify agreements is necessary, Callahan says that action would be supported but should not be necessary.

“These foreign governments have made binding commitments in terms of adjusting tariff schedules, they are also making regulatory changes. USTR will be enforcing these agreements. They are enforceable.”

Examples of enforceable commitments include:

Indonesia removes its import licensing requirements
Malaysia accepts facilities on their registration list as long as FSIS has them on their list

The Future of the U.S./China Trade Relationship

At the 2026 Top Producer Summit, Lyu Jiang, minister for economic and commercial affairs at the Chinese Embassy in the U.S., characterized the U.S. and Chinese relationship being a phase of stabilization.

When prompted to react, Callahan agreed saying, “We very much want a stable, predictable, transactional relationship with our Chinese counterparts. We do want to normalize, bring reciprocity and balance back to our trade relationship and ensure that U.S. farmers, and ranchers can benefit from the Chinese market again.”

She says her office is balancing the agricultural stakeholders wanting access to the large-scale Chinese market with a strategy to also diversify trade partnerships as to not be too reliant on a single country.

“We are working through the agreement on reciprocal trade to diversify our markets so we don’t overly rely on China,” she says. “We are looking to address that very serious situation where China may see agriculture as a pain point for the United States.”

With the upcoming meeting of President Trump and President Xi in April, Callahan says her team and the larger U.S. trade team is working to prepare and set the stage for a positive outcome. Callahan points to specific issues to be worked through and market focuses spanning crops and livestock.

“Both sides want the meetings to be a success,” she says. “Certainly, in the meetings leading up to the president level discussion, we will be having open and frank conversations with China where we need to see areas of improvement. That’s not limited to soybeans to sorghum. Our beef producers don’t have access to China due to China’s unfortunate actions that are not renewing facility registrations.”

The Review of USMCA

With a goal of “reciprocity and balance across north America” the trade team is working on its review of the North American trade deal.

“We absolutely understand the importance of USMCA for U.S. farmers and ranchers,” Callahan says.

Describing this as a “comprehensive review” she says that spans:

Look at what is working
Maintain what is working
Improve on areas not be delivering the benefits U.S. farmers and ranchers expect

She brings up the overall trade balance with Canada and specifically, Canadian dairy.

“With Canada, we went from a $3 billion deficit in 2020 and now we have an $11 billion ag trade deficit. So there are certainly areas for improvement, and we’re taking all of our stakeholders’ comments into consideration,” Callahan says.

98% of U.S. Households Are Buying Meat: New Report Shows Record Sales

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 18:02:03 GMT

Meat sales hit a record high of $112 billion in 2025, with a pound increase of 2%. Millennials and Gen Z were a driving force behind the growth, according to the 21st annual Power of Meat report released today at the Annual Meat Conference by the Meat Institute and FMI — The Food Industry Association .

According to Circana, more than 98% of American households purchase meat, and 45% of shoppers are actively trying to prepare more meals containing meat or poultry. According to 210 Analytics, of the five dinners shoppers prepare at home per week on average, 90% already contain a portion of meat or poultry.

“The meat department is outperforming because it delivers what shoppers want right now: protein, flexibility, value and taste,” says Rick Stein, FMI vice president of fresh foods. “Retailers that balance convenient ground options with premium, indulgent cuts will be best positioned to capture both budget-conscious and experience-driven shoppers.”

Which Generations Are Driving Meat Sales Growth?

Millennials and Gen Z shoppers accounted for 67% of unit growth. They are more likely than other shoppers to be actively trying to prepare more meals containing meat or poultry — Gen Z 50% and Millennials 57%. In 81% of households with children, kids have some level of influence on meat and poultry purchase decisions. Seventy-two percent of shoppers with teens at home say their teens request meat and poultry, far ahead of requests for protein bars, shakes and powders.

How is AI Changing How Consumers Buy Meat?

Younger generations also lead the way in using social media and artificial intelligence (AI) platforms for meal inspiration. Twenty-four percent of Gen Z and Millennial shoppers use AI tools, compared to 10% of Gen X and 4% of Boomers. Overall, 15% of shoppers use AI tools, a 650% increase compared to just two years ago.

Is Meat Still Considered Part of a Healthy Diet?

Meat and poultry continue to feature positively in shoppers’ health and nutrition perceptions, with 77% of shoppers agreeing that meat and poultry are part of a healthy diet, up more than 20% since 2020. GLP-1 users over-index versus non-users for eating somewhat or a lot more meat than last year (161) and for frequently including meat and poultry in snacking occasions (171).

“Americans are more focused on making smart food choices than ever before, and this latest Power of Meat report reinforces meat’s clear and irreplaceable role at the center of healthy, convenient, affordable meals today and for generations to come,” summarizes Julie Anna Potts, Meat Institute president.

Read more about how the food pyramid puts protein back on top:

New Dietary Guidelines Move Food Pyramid Closer to the Farm

The New Food Pyramid Flips the Script

The Power of Meat study was conducted by 210 Analytics on behalf of FMI and the Meat Foundation and sponsored by Cryovac Brand Food Packaging. Sales and purchase dynamics data are provided by Circana for the 52 weeks ending Dec. 28, 2025.

Your Next Read:
Consumer Craze for Protein Drives Beef Demand
Why Aren’t High Beef Prices Causing Sticker Shock With Consumers?
What Do Consumers Buy in the Meat Aisle When Money is Tight?
Global Protein Demand Surges 2% Annually as Producers Navigate Volatile Markets

Global Protein Demand Surges 2% Annually as Producers Navigate Volatile Markets

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 19:28:01 GMT

While global protein demand is growing at roughly 2% annually, livestock producers must navigate a complex landscape of regional shifts, disease risks and policy battles that will define the next decade of production.

“The Global Protein Outlook: Demand, Trade and the Supply Picture” panel discussion during this year’s Top Producer Summit brought together experts from the beef, dairy and pork industries to explore demand, trade dynamics and risks facing the livestock industry today.

Beef, dairy and pork experts explain how foreign animal disease and climate extremes threaten herds and what risk-management strategies producers can use to stay profitable.

(Farm Journal)

On the panel were:

Kenny Burdine, University of Kentucky agricultural economist
Stephen Cain, National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC)
Renee Strickland, Strickland Ranch & Exports, Inc.
Scott Hays, Missouri Pork Association

Five key takeaways from the discussion include:

1. Global protein demand is structurally strong, driven by population growth, rising incomes and a broad cultural focus on protein.

“Globally, we are seeing an increase in protein demand broadly across the board,” Cain summarizes.

He describes a few demand patterns:

Regions like sub-Saharan Africa and India: demand mainly from more mouths to feed, not big per-capita jumps.
Regions like Southeast Asia and China: both population and per-capita protein consumption have risen sharply.
Developed regions like the U.S. and Europe are in a fortified-protein trend: “We are cramming protein into everything,” Cain describes. “We have protein water on the market now … it’s across the world.”

Plant-based and alternative proteins seem to be a niche.

Burdine explains: “They’ve not taken any market share. It’s still kind of staying in that niche and not impacting the major protein categories.”

Cain adds the dairy alternatives are seeing category declines, with more consumers realizing milk is a whole food compared to the ingredient in an almond beverage.

2. Supply and trade are shifting toward more regionalized production and stronger competitors, but U.S. strengths in productivity and quality remain critical.

On the supply side, Cain explains rising demand does not always translate into equally increasing exports.

“We’ve seen that slow down,” he says. “More of that protein demand is being filled by domestic production, more regionalized players.”

He links this to some pushback against globalism and more inward-looking, domestic strategies. The U.S. remains a key exporter but faces growing regional competition.

Burdine adds while the U.S. has the smallest cow herd since 1961 , productivity gains mean more output per animal. He points out Brazil passed the U.S. as the largest beef producer.

“It’s not that there’s not competition out there, but we absolutely [have] a great advantage here in the states,” he says.

From pork’s perspective, Hays says the U.S. pork supply should stay steady into 2026, while global pork supply is shrinking. He predicts China may decrease 1.4 million sows, Spain is cutting numbers due to African Swine Fever, yet Brazil is continuing to grow its numbers.

3. Risk and resilience — disease, climate extremes and feed quality — are central concerns, making biosecurity, preparedness and careful storage essential.

Hays highlights herd health is the biggest concern for all livestock producers.

“What keeps every producer up is herd health,” he stresses.

He points out to these concerns today:

Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS): PRRS causes “very, very significant losses” and takes a multiyear recovery
Foreign animal diseases – African Swine Fever, foot-and-mouth disease and New World screwworm .

“Foot and mouth should scare everybody at this conference,” he stresses. “We would lose all of those exports on all of those products, from dairy to beef to pork.”

From the cattle perspective, Strickland adds climate extremes are a concern for ranchers today.

“I also fear the climate change extremes that we’re all experiencing,” she says. “Extreme drought, extreme rains… that’s really challenging for me as a producer.”

More information about disease challenges facing the livestock producers today:

PRRS ‘Still Sucks’: New Strain Plagues Pork Producers in Ohio

Strategies to Help Raise PRRS-Positive Pigs

Is a World Without PRRS Possible? Two Veterinarians Say ‘Yes’

Help Protect the U.S. from African Swine Fever

African Swine Fever: What it means for America if it were to get into the country

What Do Foot-and-Mouth Disease Outbreaks in Europe Mean for the U.S.?

The Smell You’ll Never Forget: A Calf Infested with New World Screwworm

New World Screwworm: An Infestation, Not Infection

4. Consumer behavior shows both opportunity and caution: strong protein demand despite high prices, but some trade-down, weaker foodservice and ongoing debates over “ultra-processed” foods.

Burdine compares today’s protein enthusiasm to past diet waves like Atkins and South Beach, but emphasizes: “Consumer trends are always challenging, but it’s the most encouraging in my career.”

Two features about the demand craze he points out are:

How widespread it is across species and products, including eggs.
Price behavior — despite very high retail prices, demand remains strong.

Burdines explains this suggests a deeper, more durable shift for increased protein demand, not just a short-lived fad.

Cain adds in the protein world trade-down due to inflation and increasing costs is real, especially in foodservice.

He notes lower-income consumers pull back on fast food and quick service, which hurts cheese and dairy demand. Cheese consumption, which usually increases about 2% per year, fell 2% last year, which he says is largely due to weaker foodservice traffic.

Burdine adds that trade-down happens across and within species.

Hays emphasizes the new dietary guidelines are a big win for protein and specifically animal protein.

“We’re excited,” he says. “Pork is at the top on the left-hand side, but it’s more about shifting the conversation. We’re moving away from ‘animal fat makes you fat.’ Meat provides hard-to-replace vitamins and minerals, including in the fat portion.”

He did share concern about how ultra-processed concepts are being used.

“We’ve taken this word ‘ultra-processed’, and now it’s a household word. It is the single unit of measure [for] whether or not we should or should not eat something,” Hays says. “And we don’t even know what the definition of it is.”

He explains if ultra-processed is the only metric, a sausage patty and a honey bun look identical, which is misleading for real nutrition decisions.

Cain adds allowing whole milk in schools is a big win, but schools are facing a higher cost than skim and calorie caps that make menu-balancing harder.

5. Strategic actions for producers: robust risk management, efficiency and quality focus, diversification and a commitment to mentoring the next generation.

Cain encourages producers to use risk management and pricing strategies to help make them viable at today’s prices.

“If you’re not economically viable today, you’re not going to be economically viable tomorrow,” he says.

Burdine adds to think about risk management broadly considering price tools and protection from acts of God. This includes biosecurity strategies and insurance.

“Focus on efficiency and quality to stay competitive in good and bad markets,” he stresses.

Hays asks grain producers to protect feed quality. Poorly stored corn or DDGs (dry distillers grains) can create toxin issues that hurt animal performance and reduce demand.

“Your consumer really needs it to be high quality,” he stresses. “And we’ll buy more of it.”

Strickland encourages producers to diversify their income and not put all their eggs in one basket. Her business includes a ranch, export company and a non-ag title search company.

“When one of them is not doing so well, something else bails me out,” she summarizes. “If you’re in a position that you can diversify just a little bit, it can get you through the hard times.”

The final message was a question: Who are you mentoring and investing in? All producers need to consider how they are going to pass information on to the next generation and help them be successful and thrive.

Your Next Reads:
U.S. Cattle Inventory Hits 75-Year Low at 86.2 Million Head
What Do Consumers Buy in the Meat Aisle When Money is Tight?
New Dietary Guidelines Move Food Pyramid Closer to the Farm

Why Did Chicago Public Schools Ban Pork?

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 23:43:52 GMT

UPDATE: Josh Maschhoff, current past president of the Illinois Pork Producers Association, is traveling to Chicago on Feb. 26 to address the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education. He will be calling for a formal review of the district’s pork prohibition impacting 630 schools that currently cannot serve pork at breakfast or lunch.

Of the 350,000 free meals served daily at Chicago Public Schools (CPS) through the Community Eligibility Provision, none include pork. Despite being a staple in Chicago households, an “illusive” vote during a virtual COVID-era board meeting quietly removed this nutrient-dense protein from the menu.

So why did CPS ban pork? That’s a mystery the Illinois Pork Producers Association (IPPA) is trying to solve.

“We found out in February 2025, really by accident, there is an all-pork ban at all the Chicago Public Schools in our state,” says Jennifer Tirey, IPPA executive director.

IPPA sent Illinois public school food service directors a new resource from the National Pork Board designed to help public schools prepare nutritious, tasty pork dishes for large audiences of people.

“We received a response back from the food service director at CPS,” Tirey says. “It said, ‘Well, thank you for this resource. However, we have a ban on pork and we can’t serve pork – not for breakfast, not for lunch. None of our meals can ever have pork in it.’”

According to the CPS School Wellness Policy , all menu items must be “pork-free.”

A Cultural Disconnect

That means 325,305 students across 634 schools are not allowed to have pork as an offering despite efforts to accommodate other religious, ethnic and personal beliefs of Chicago students.

A high demographic of CPS is Hispanic and African American – approximately 85% or 265,124 students. According to 2024-2025 data, 47.3% are Latino/Hispanic, 34.2% are Black/African American and 11.3% are White. Pork consumption is high among these groups in Chicago, according to data compiled by Numerator, with 79.6% of Hispanic households and 75.8% of African American households regularly consuming fresh pork.

“Those families probably don’t even realize that something they hold so culturally close to them is no longer accessible to their kids,” Tirey notes. “It’s not fair that their children cannot access this valuable protein.”

A Missed Opportunity

CPS participates in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and receives USDA Foods, which are provided to school districts at reduced or no cost to help meet federal nutrition requirements. Section 32 and Pork Eligibility Pork products are included in the USDA Section 32 purchasing program, which allows USDA to procure surplus and domestically produced agricultural commodities

“The district is unable to accept or serve USDA-provided pork, and CPS forgoes access to a nutrient-dense, high-quality protein available through federal procurement,” Tirey says. “On a weekly basis, CPS misses out on approximately $5.51 million in federal reimbursements because roughly 39% of students skip lunch and 56% skip breakfast.”

One of the major reasons kids skip meals is because they don’t like what is being served, Tirey points out. At a time when inflation is causing everyone to pull back on spending, can CPS afford not to take advantage of these opportunities to provide a high-quality protein to students?

“CPS’ long-term debt is over $9 billion as of June 30, 2025,” Tirey says. “CPS’s short-term debt is $450 million on top of that.”

Allowing pork within CPS meal planning could improve program flexibility and align with federal procurement systems already designed to help districts manage costs, she adds.

“For example, most people think of sausage as pork sausage,” Tirey says. “By swapping out a pork sausage patty for a beef sausage patty at breakfast alone, it would save CPS $1.2 million over 180 days.”

Nutrient-Dense Protein

CPS dietitians indicated to IPPA through emails they were unaware of the original reasoning behind the pork ban. Although religious accommodation was suggested as a possible basis, there is no evidence in the record this was ever a consideration. CPS routinely offers multiple entrée options.

“We met with CPS nutrition leadership to share that pork is a high-quality, nutrient-dense protein that is culturally relevant to CPS students while being affordable and operationally feasible,” Tirey says. “Despite initial openness to discussion, CPS later declined to pursue any consideration of pork menu offerings due to the existing CPS policy.”

The 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, issued in January by USDA and Health and Human Services, emphasize the importance of adequate daily protein intake and encouraging consumption of nutrient-dense protein foods as part of healthy dietary patterns.

“Updated guidance reflects growing consensus that higher protein intake supports child growth, muscle development, satiety and overall health,” she says. “The guidelines recognize a range of animal and plant protein sources, including red meat — as appropriate components of a balanced diet when prepared and served in nutrient-dense forms.”

Pork qualifies as a nutrient-dense protein because it provides essential nutrients such as high-quality complete protein, iron, zinc and Vitamin B, including B12. It also provides choline, which is important for brain development in school-aged children.

According to a research article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , high relative energy requirements for children and adolescents ages 2 to 19 years signify micronutrient density needs are below mean global nutrient density needs across all life stages for folate, zinc, and vitamins A and B12, though calcium density needs remain high to support skeletal growth. Entering puberty, adolescent girls ages 10 to 19 also show increased iron density needs (11% higher than the global mean).

Chicago Families Deserve a Choice

“Families should get to decide what works for their kids,” Tirey says. “We are asking for a policy review focused on choice and inclusion. Menus should reflect many cultures and preferences. Pork is a nutrient-dense protein option that is affordable and adds to a well-balanced meal that works within a school’s budget.”

IPPA is requesting the following action from the CPS Board:

Initiate a formal review of the Local School Wellness Policy provision prohibiting pork.
Direct staff to identify the original rationale and supporting documentation for the ban.
Consider input from nutrition experts, food service partners and community stakeholders.
Evaluate whether pilot programs or limited menu testing are appropriate.

What do parents want from school meals? According to Tirey, a mother of two, it starts with enough protein to keep kids full and focused and nutrients that support energy and learning. As a parent, she desires affordable options that don’t sacrifice quality. Most importantly, she wants meals kids will actually eat.

“Pork provides high-quality protein that helps kids stay full longer,” Tirey says. “Pork provides iron and B12 support brain development and energy, in addition to thiamin that is essential for growth and metabolism. In a time when school food budgets are stretched, pork provides an affordable option that doesn’t sacrifice nutrition.”

Senator Celina Villanueva (D-Chicago), a former CPS student, is sponsoring SR 625 calling for CPS to review the ban along with Rep. Sonya Harper (D-Chicago), House Ag Chairwoman, who is sponsoring HR 625 . Both have districts that represent CPS.

The legislators say a policy review is warranted for five reasons: alignment with current nutrition science; cultural inclusion and equity; student choice and accommodation; fiscal responsibility and transparency; and governance.

(Photo by Taylor Flowe on Unsplash)

Inconclusive FOIA Requests

Since February 2025, IPPA has submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to CPS to find out why this policy was implemented. CPS declined to comment to Farm Journal’s PORK’s request for a response.

“The vote was made during a virtual board meeting, and the update to the wellness policy was voted on consent calendar,” Tirey explains. “There was no verbal discussion during that board meeting about that particular change. To be quite honest, a lot of the comments were about COVID and how to get students back to school. But in the middle of all that, this ban was implemented.”

The facts don’t add up. Even CPS board members haven’t been able to explain why there is a ban on pork, she says. Both FOIA requests filed with CPS came back with inconclusive findings.

“The last thing we want to do is approach an issue without having all the facts,” Tirey says. “What we are really hoping to find out is how we got to this point. At this juncture, we are working with the Illinois Attorney General’s office to help narrow our focus even further, because the second FOIA response said that the responses were too many for them to share because of the number of keywords.”

On Feb. 4, Tirey sent an email to every CPS Board of Education member regarding CPS’s policy that prohibits all pork products in school meals. Although IPPA was not selected through the lottery system to speak at the January board meeting, Tirey wanted to make sure the board was “aware of our position and concerns.” IPPA’s position statement can be found here on the CPS website.

IPPA will register again for the Feb. 26 meeting, of which five are in the lottery.

“We haven’t solved the issue yet,” Tirey says. “But I’m a pretty driven individual and I’m going to keep working until we get pork back on the menu in Chicago Public Schools.”

It’s Time to Break Up with the Bad Employee

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 18:02:00 GMT

Having the right employees on your team is essential to keeping the farm running smoothly. Yet in many cases, workers are hired to fill an urgent labor gap and aren’t given the training or resources they need to succeed. When that happens, even well‑intentioned employees may struggle to fit the role or the team—ultimately leading to a labor “breakup.”

Jorge Delgado, a training and talent development specialist with Alltech, says the reluctance to address these situations is often emotional and more costly than managers realize. In a recent conversation, he compared it to staying in a romantic relationship long after it is clear it is not working.

Why Do Farms Struggle to Let Go?

For many farm owners, the biggest barrier to firing a poor-fit employee is fear.

“One fear that many farmers have is that they are not going to be able to find another employee to replace the person they are letting go,” Delgado explains.

This fear intensifies in specialized roles where skills are harder to find.

“This can especially be true for middle management positions,” Delgado adds. “These are more technical positions, and it can be really hard to find people to fill that role. Sometimes, that makes management hesitate to get rid of that person, even though it’s hurting production and numbers at the farm.”

Family and social ties on the farm add another complication. Delgado says it’s not uncommon for employees to be related, or tightly connected, to others on the crew.

“Sometimes these guys, they have family involved,” he adds. “The owners or managers are afraid that if they let go of oner person, these guys will take their family or friends with them.”

The result is a kind of emotional hostage situation. Even when the employee clearly doesn’t fit the culture or role, management feels stuck, hoping the situation will somehow improve on its own.

Have Clear Expectations

Many employee challenges on farms can be traced back to what did or did not happen on the first day of work. Delgado says problems often begin long before performance issues show up, simply because expectations were never clearly laid out.

“You have to have rules and regulations really clear and established on a far,” Delgado says. “Most of the farmers hire people on the spot, get them trained and get them going. These people don’t necessarily go through a formal onboarding process where they go through the expectations, the rules and regulations, and so they don’t know anything about it.”

When those expectations are never clearly explained, performance conversations and eventual terminations can feel unfair on both sides. Employees feel blindsided, and managers feel frustrated. In many cases, the breakdown started on the first day the employee walked onto the farm.

He also stresses the value of doing basic reference checks before hiring, an often-skipped step in agriculture.

“Sometimes we just hire the individual that is right at the door, and we don’t do any research,” Delgado says. “But that research can be an early sign that this individual is not the right fit for my culture.”

The Three-Strike Approach

Before any tough decision is made, farmers need a clear framework for addressing performance issues. Delgado recommends a structured, professional process—one that gives employees fair warning while protecting the farm.

He suggests a simple three-strike policy:

Verbal warning - Delgado stresses that this first step should be a clear, calm and deliberate conversation. The manager needs to sit down with the employee and explain exactly what behavior or performance issue needs to change, why it matters to the operation and what improvement looks like.

He encourages farmers to avoid vague statements like “you need to do better” and instead focus on specific, measurable expectations. The employee should leave the conversation knowing precisely what needs to change and the timeframe to correct it.

Written warning - If the issue continues after the verbal warning, Delgado says it is time to move to formal documentation. This step should be more structured and intentional, signaling to the employee that the concern is serious and must be addressed.

“You need to sit down with the person and explain what’s going on,” Delgado says. “It becomes more structuralized, because the person and both parties should sign a document saying, ‘Look, this is the second time you did this, and these are going to be the consequences if you do it for the third time.’”

Termination -If the behavior does not change after verbal and written warnings, Delgado says it is time to part ways. By this point, the employee has been given clear expectations, opportunities to improve, and formal notice that the issue is serious.

Delgado encourages farmers to handle this step professionally and directly. The conversation should be private, respectful and brief. The manager should clearly state that the employee is being let go, reference the previous warnings, and avoid turning the meeting into a debate or long explanation.

Watch for Red Flags

Every farm has its own internal culture. Employees work closely together, talk with one another and often recognize problems long before management does.

“In this small circle, things travel fast, especially trouble,” Delgado says. “When there is a person who is not behaving properly or doing something wrong, the team will try to get rid of this person. And the first sign is they will communicate with management.”

Delgado adds that the mistake many managers make is brushing off those early comments or complaints. When multiple employees start raising concerns about the same person, it is often an early warning sign that something is not working and needs attention before it affects the whole crew.

“Many times, the managers avoid these signs,” Delgado say. “They think, ‘Just let it go. Everything’s fine. We’ll take care of this later’ and they totally avoid the problem. By the time they realize it is a big issue, it’s too late.”

Common red flags include chronic lateness, cutting corners, skipping protocols and poor communication. These patterns aren’t only unprofessional, but they can create extra work and frustration for the dependable employees.

“At some point you have to say, ‘What’s going on here?’” Delgado notes. “Don’t ignore the red flags and sweep them under the rug.”

When You Have to Fire on the Spot

Not every situation needs to follow a step-by-step process. Sometimes, inappropriate behavior or actions require immediate dismissal.

“Sometimes you have to get rid of somebody on the spot,” Delgado says. “For example, someone mistreating animals, damaging equipment, mistreating coworkers, stealing or causing serious disruption needs to be let go of immediately. When behavior like drugs, alcohol, sexual harassment or anything else begins to change the culture and environment of the farm, there are no second chances.”

In these cases, keeping the wrong person sends the wrong message to the rest of the team. It makes it look like serious issues can be overlooked or tolerated. It creates frustration for employees who follow the rules, do their jobs well and expect the same standards from others.

Check In, Listen and Make Employees Feel Valued

Preventing tough breakups with employees starts well before any termination talk. Regular check-ins—both formal and informal—can catch small issues before they grow into major problems.

“Formal reviews need to be mandatory,” Delgado says. “But they often aren’t regular. Also, survey your culture. Anonymous surveys usually get people to speak up, and you’ll learn a lot about the reality of your team and the culture.”

One simple question he likes to ask employees is: Would you recommend a friend or family member to work here?

“If the answer is no, something is off,” he adds. “You need to fix that now rather than dealing with the fallout later and having to let too many people go.”

Beyond systems and surveys, many farm employees simply don’t feel valued.

“Ask an employee what their role is, and they often say, ‘I just do ‘fill in the blank’” Delgado says. “They don’t see the big picture, and it’s our job to make them feel relevant.”

That means communicating mission, purpose and appreciation—much like in a healthy marriage.

“If you aren’t telling your spouse you appreciate them, you can’t be surprised when the relationship fails if you only point out the negatives,” he adds

Breaking Up the Right Way

Running a farm isn’t just about managing equipment, crops and livestock. It also means managing people. And while you can’t control every employee’s choice, you can:

Set clear expectations from day one
Document verbal and written warnings
Pay attention to the “inner community” of employees
Use reviews and surveys to monitor morale and culture
Communicate how valuable and relevant your team members are

And when it becomes clear that someone isn’t a fit, you owe it to your business and your team to act.

New Dietary Guidelines Move Food Pyramid Closer to the Farm

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 20:43:23 GMT

The White House delivered a simple but clear message to Americans today: Eat real food.

“We are finally putting real food back at the center of the American diet. Real food that nourishes the body, restores health, fuels energy and builds strength,” says Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. “This pivot also leans into the abundant, affordable and healthy food supply already available from America’s incredible farmers and ranchers. By making milk, raising cattle and growing wholesome fruits, vegetables and grains, they hold the key to solving our national health crisis.”

In the “most significant reset of federal nutrition policy in decades,” the White House released the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030 . The updated pyramid inverts the 1992 USDA version by prioritizing:

Protein (1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, an increase from 0.8 grams)
Dairy and healthy fats as the foundation
Vegetables (3 servings per day)
Fruits (2 servings per day)

Unlike the old pyramid’s grain-heavy base and processed carbs, new recommendations limit whole grains to 2 to 4 servings per day and added sugars and highly processed oils should be avoided entirely.

Eat More Protein

Rollins says the previous dietary guidelines demonized protein in favor of carbohydrates.

“These guidelines reflect gold standard science by prioritizing high-quality, nutrient-dense protein foods in every meal,” Rollins says. “This includes a variety of animal sources, including eggs, poultry, seafood, and red meat, in addition to plant-sourced protein foods such as beans, peas, lentils, legumes, nuts, seeds and soy.”

To put the new protein recommendations into perspective, Sigrid Johannes, executive director of government affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, says for folks who should be consuming 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight that’s a 100% increase in recommended daily protein intake.

Dairy’s Seat at the Table

Dairy emerged in a strong position under the new dietary guidelines, with federal nutrition guidance supporting dairy at all fat levels for the first time.

“One of the key messages they’re telling consumers is eat dairy and eat dairy at all fat levels — that’s whole milk, cheese and butter,” says Matt Herrick of the International Dairy Foods Association. He calls it “a significant watershed moment,” reflecting how many families currently eat and shop today.

Echoing Herrick’s perspective, National Milk Producers Federation President and CEO Gregg Doud adds by better recognizing both fat and protein, the guidelines give a fuller picture of dairy’s nutritional value.

“Not all fats are created equal, and because the guidelines acknowledge this, dairy’s benefits are better reflected in this iteration of the guidelines,” Doud says.

When it comes to protein, consumer demand is reshaping the category, with cottage cheese at its highest level since the 1980s because of the high-protein trend, Herrick notes.

“Consumers are looking at labels more than ever and trying to find cleaner, less processed foods. Dairy fits that bill. Most products have just a handful of ingredients, and they’re all high in protein. People are turning to protein for growth, energy and overall health, and we’re going to continue to see consumers look to dairy to fulfill their protein and healthy fats needs,” Herrick says.

The processing sector has grown alongside the rising demand for dairy, reflecting both increased production and changing consumer preferences. Roughly $8 billion has been invested in new processing facilities from 2022 to 2025, with another $11 billion expected through 2028.

“We’re going to continue to see investments in processing facilities — new plants, updated lines and more capacity — to meet growing consumer demand for dairy protein and healthy fats,” Herrick notes.

Eat More Meat and Poultry

When it comes to meat and poultry, Julie Anna Potts, Meat Institute President and CEO, says Secretary Rollins and Secretary Kennedy’s leadership have simplified the dietary guidelines making it clear meat is a protein powerhouse.

“Robust scientific evidence demonstrates that meat is a rich source of high-quality protein, essential vitamins and highly bioavailable minerals that support human health throughout the lifespan,” Potts says.

Kansas beef producer Marisa Kleysteuber describes the new “commonsense” dietary guidelines as “exciting and refreshing.”

“As beef producers we are blessed to work with a ruminant animal that can utilize Mother Nature’s production of cellulose from rain and sunshine and then convert it to one of the most nutrient rich proteins there is,” she says. “Whether the consumer is desiring an organic, grass fed or corn fed beef product, there are cattlemen and women all over the U.S. who put their heart into raising these cattle to produce a nutritious and delicious product that we have always believed in and now our leaders are standing behind the ranchers and farmers of America.”

Quintessentially American foods such as burgers, steaks, pork chops and Easter hams can remain a staple of American households, and the guidelines go so far as to recommend parents introduce nutrient-dense foods, including meat, early and continue focusing on “nutrient-dense foods such as protein foods” throughout childhood.

“America’s pork producers appreciate the 2025 dietary guidelines putting pork front and center on the plate. They took note of producer concerns and rightly gave pork and other high-protein, nutrient-dense and delicious meats their due when it comes to Americans’ health and dietary habits,” says Rob Brenneman , National Pork Producers Council president-elect and pork producer from Washington, Iowa.

Maddie Hokanson , a Minnesota pork producer and mother of two, says the new dietary guidelines’ strong emphasis on protein is a positive for the pork industry. She believes the new guidelines, paired with pork’s quality nutrition and versatility, bring together the perfect opportunity to increase pork consumption and demand in the U.S.

“As pig farmers, we are proud to produce a meat product that is packed with high-quality protein, while also being nutrient-dense with many essential vitamins and minerals,” Hokanson says. “As a parent to young children, I see both the physical and cognitive benefits of prioritizing protein in the diet at all ages, and I’m excited to see what the short- and long-term effects of this recommendation will be.”

Three Servings of Veggies and Two Servings of Fruit

Dairy and meat weren’t the only items at the top of the new dietary pyramid. Fresh fruits and vegetables were also given top billing.

“Diets rich in vegetables and fruits reduce disease risk more effectively than many drugs,” says Robert F Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health.

The new dietary guidelines recommend three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit per day. Like past editions of the dietary guidelines , the new guidelines recommend Americans eat “a variety of colorful, nutrient-dense vegetables and fruits” and advises whole produce items be eaten “in their original form.” Though not explicitly stated, the updated guidelines also call out “frozen, dried, or canned vegetables or fruits with no or very limited added sugars” as good options.

“Today’s dietary guidelines reinforce the critical role fruits and vegetables play in overall health,” says Mollie Van Lieu, International Fresh Produce Association vice president of nutrition and health, in the group’s response. “Scientific evidence consistently shows that fruits and vegetables should make up the majority of what people eat. The Administration’s focus on whole foods is an opportunity to increase fruit and vegetable intake, as they are the most nutrient-dense foods available.”

Rollins Teases Plan to Expand Real Food Retail Accessibility

There was more than the new dietary guidelines announced at the press event. Rollins mentioned upcoming changes at retail she says would increase the accessibility of whole, healthy foods to those in food deserts.

“Soon, USDA will finalize our stocking standards,” she says, explaining retailers that take SNAP benefits are bound by the stocking standards. “Very soon we will be finalizing that rule that will mandate all 250,000 retailers in America to double the type of staple foods they provide for America’s SNAP households. This means healthier options will be in reach for all American families, regardless of circumstance, at levels never seen before in our country.”

Grains and Oilseed Industry Focuses on Positives

In terms of grains, in its guidance USDA recommends Americans “focus on whole grains, while sharply reducing refined carbohydrates.” The National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) shared mixed reactions to the changes.

“We appreciate the continued recognition of whole grains as an essential part of Americans’ diets,” said a spokesperson with NAWG in a statement to Farm Journal. “However, we are concerned that some portions of the new guidelines around grains and wheat are unintentionally confusing. Wheat, wheat flour, and foods made from wheat have been nutrient-rich, life-sustaining staples for tens of thousands of years and deserve clear, continued support as a central part of our nation’s diet.”

The American Soybean Association (ASA) focuses on the positives saying it highlights the importance of increased protein consumption, including plant-based proteins, such as soy-based foods. They also emphasize prioritizing healthy fats, including oils rich in essential fatty acids like soybean oil.

ASA says an addendum continues to call into question the process of soybean oil extraction, which it says is scientifically proven to be safe for human health.

“Soybean oil and soy protein play a critical role in the health and nutrition of Americans,” says Scott Metzger, ASA president and Ohio farmer, in a press release. “We remain deeply concerned by the rhetoric and selectively cited studies regarding the health and safety of soybean oil in DGA supporting material.”

Metzger says soybean growers will continue to work with the administration and educate MAHA commission leadership on the health benefits of soy-based foods and soybean oil.

The National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) echoed those concern: “Vegetable oils, or “seed oils” as they’re sometimes referred to, are a significant provider of essential fatty acids and remain a safe and cost-effective source of dietary fats in the American diet, as they are globally,” said a NOPA press release. “However, some appendices rely on a narrow evidence base with limited citations, which is concerning given the administration’s rhetoric questioning the safety of certain vegetable oils despite an established scientific consensus.”

NOPA also argues oilseeds support the production of affordable meat, dairy and eggs as meal produced from oilseeds are a key component of livestock diets.

These Half-Dozen U.S. Ag Trade Missions Aim To Diversify Global Demand

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 16:39:38 GMT

Trump’s USDA team has announced its agribusiness trade missions for the year ahead.

“Our team certainly plays an important role in generating demand overseas for the products,” says Luke Lindberg, USDA undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs.

Lindberg points to a three-point plan Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ team is deploying:

Get better trade agreements.
Build willing buyer and willing seller relationships.
Hold trading partners accountable.

According to Lindberg, the goal is it “helps to cultivate, it helps to diversify, so we’re not solely focused on one or two key buyers. I think if you go to many business owners and ask them, would you rather have one buyer that buys 80% of your products or would you rather have some diversification to lots of buyers who have ups and downs of their own, I think many of them would say they prefer the diversification model.”

So far, six agribusiness trade missions have been announced for 2026 with the goal of growing global markets, increasing exports and strengthening the agricultural economy.

The six mission destinations, and potential agricultural focus areas, include the following.

1. February 2026, Jakarta, Indonesia

Since 2020, annual U.S. ag exports to Indonesia have hovered between $2.75 billion and $3.25 billion. Overall, it’s the 11^th largest trade partner for U.S. ag goods.

Indonesia is the fourth-largest market for U.S. soybeans following China, the European Union and Mexico. According to U.S. Census Bureau trade data, in 2024 Indonesia imported from the U.S. $1.2 billion in soybeans, $198 million in wheat and $139 million in cotton. This past July, the Indonesia private sector and the U.S. wheat industry signed a memorandum committing to purchasing at least 1 million metric tons of U.S. wheat between 2026 and 2030 plus a minimum of 800,000 metric tons of wheat in 2025 (prorated).

The Trump administration has worked to address long-standing barriers to U.S. agricultural trade and expanding market access into Indonesia with a trade agreement eliminating tariffs on more than 99% of U.S. products.

2. April 2026, Manila, Philippines

U.S. ag exports to the Philippines have more than doubled since 2010. In 2024, the total value was $3.5 billion, making it the ninth-largest customer for U.S. ag trade.

With limited domestic production, the Philippines imports nearly all of its dairy products, and specifically $365 million comes from the U.S. Poultry exports to the Philippines totaled $187 million, with a majority of that in frozen chicken leg quarters.

The U.S. gained market share for ethanol imports into the Philippines, having doubled volumes in 2024 with a value of $138 million.

Beef and beef products are the sixth-largest group of ag products the Philippines imports from the U.S. This category has also experienced recent growth by increasing 58% from 2023 to 2024. The U.S. is second to Brazil in market share for beef imported into the Philippines.

In 2024, the Philippines imported $120 million of pork and pork products from the U.S. The country’s local supply has been declining because of African Swine Fever.

According to an announcement in July, the Trump administration said the Philippines will charge zero tariffs for U.S. exports into their market, while the Philippines will pay 19% tariffs to the U.S.

3. May 2026, Istanbul, Turkey

According to USDA analysis, Turkey has grown its strength as an importer of raw materials and then reexported finished products. This includes importing wheat for flour and cotton for apparel.

Because of its geographic location, Turkey has also grown as a strategic regional transshipment hub, connecting U.S. exporters with trade partners across the Caucasus region.

In September, Turkey lifted its retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. ag products: rice, tree nuts, distilled spirits and more. The Trump administration says a focus for the upcoming agribusiness trade mission will be to address nontariff barriers to trade, which includes import bans on U.S. animal protein.

4. August 2026, Australia and New Zealand

The Trump administration says its trade breakthroughs with Australia will give greater access to U.S. beef exporters. The U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement is structured to give comprehensive duty-free market access.

Other protein sectors have significant trade established with Australia. In 2024, $328 million worth of U.S. pork and pork products were imported. And $173 million of U.S. dairy products were brought into the country.

New Zealand imported $520 million worth of U.S. ag goods, including: soybean meal, dairy ingredients (lactose and whey), fresh fruit and distiller’s dried grains.

5. September 2026, Saudi Arabia

This agribusiness trade mission will focus on technical issues and nontariff barriers. Saudi Arabia is the 23^rd largest ag export market for the U.S., and it is a gateway to the $3 billion market for U.S. ag goods that is the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.

Over the past 10 years, the country has increased its imports of U.S. hay by 540% to its recent total of $152 million in 2024.

Corn, tree nuts and rice are also key ag goods exported from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia, totaling $239 million, $169 million and $123 million, respectively.

6. November 2026, Vietnam

USDA says this trade mission will focus on preferential access for specialty cheese and meats as well as improved market access for U.S. peaches and nectarines.

U.S. ag exports to the country peaked in 2018 at $4 billion and in 2023 were around $3.1 billion. Ranked from highest value to smallest, the top five ag products exported from the U.S. into Vietnam in 2023 were: cotton, soybeans, distillers grains, soybean meal and tree nuts.

For meat and meat products, the key prospects include frozen/chilled beef (boneless and bone-in), frozen chicken (leg quarters, legs and paws), and turkey.

Dairy could be a growth market for U.S. exports into Vietnam as nonfat dried milk powder has led the segment to total $146 million of imports in 2023. Fresh cheese (for foodservice/restaurants) is in demand by younger generations despite not being part of a traditional diet in the country.

USDA also points to fresh fruit as a growth category for the country, namely apples, cherries and grapes.

Is China a National Security Threat to U.S. Agriculture?

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 22:13:00 GMT

It’s been more than a decade since China made very public, very large investments in its future to feed its own people and gain greater control over international agribusiness.

In 2013, WH Group (then known as Shuanghui International) purchased Smithfield Foods for $4.7 billion, which was a U.S. company with 25 U.S. plants, 460 farms, and contracts with 2,100 producers in 12 states. A year later in back-to-back months, COFCO (China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation) bought two major agricultural trading companies: Noble Agri and Nidera. Then in 2017, ChemChina acquired Swiss-based Syngenta for $46 billion.

These acquisitions highlight the production and power China has amassed, and it’s being called into question by policy thinktank America First Policy Institute (AFPI).

“We know that many of these state-owned enterprises have an obligation to the CCP, and that is to report in and turn in all of the intellectual property they collect around the world or trade secrets and turn it in the Chinese Communist Party, giving them an edge and their ability to offshore a lot of our production from the United States,” says Ambassador Kip Tom, Indiana farmer and AFPI expert.

In a recent report, AFPI spotlighted the following vulnerabilities for U.S. farmers and consumers:

Smithfield controls 23% of U.S. pork processing
The U.S. market accounts for 23% of The Syngenta Group’s revenues
DJI drones are used by U.S. farmers to collect field data

One policy recommendation from AFPI is for Syngenta and Smithfield Foods to “divest to a domestic company or, at a minimum, a company not principally managed by an adversary of the United States.”

“Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party pose a threat to American farmers and U.S. food security,” says Congressman John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), Chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. “They’re engaged in economic aggression against the United States. We must protect our farms, feed mills, processing plants, and slaughterhouses. The CCP strategy is two-fold, undermine U.S. food security while siege-proofing their own.”

The full report is available here.

Ambassador Tom says in addition to direct or majority ownership by the CCP, global supply chains have evolved over recent decades resulting in U.S. farmers being more susceptible to negative impacts.

“We’re going to need to do everything we can do in our regulatory regime to make sure we can bring back these supply chains,” Tom says. “With the amount of sourcing that we’ve done in chemistries around the world, our fertilizer production, computer chips that run our tractors, everything, we are very vulnerable.”

Another aspect of Chinese ownership that has come into focus is foreign owned land in the U.S. The most recent reports peg a minimum of 35 million acres of farmland (3.4% of all U.S. ag land) is foreign owned, with Chinese companies owning around 350,000 acres. Of that, Brazos Highland owns 102,345 acres, and Smithfield owns 97,975 acres. The topic garnered attention at the state level with more than a handful of states passing legislation limiting foreign farmland ownership.

“Farmland is critical in the United States,” Tom says. “We know that the Fufang Group tried to place a [corn milling] plant up near Grand Forks, North Dakota, near an Air Force base, that was a strategic problem. That same group came to Indiana, and we stood up and said the same thing, ‘no, this shouldn’t be allowed.’ So it comes back to the states to get involved and make sure we put the measures in place to not allow this to happen.”

AFPI applies a skeptical eye on DJI drones, a Chinese company currently the largest manufacturer of drones worldwide.

“I would be very supportive, and I hope many of us farmers would be, to see the DJI drones go away. We should never underestimate the Chinese ability to use any information that they gather from the United States,” Tom says. “But we need to make sure that we shore up the production of drones here in the United States with American parts and information that’s processed here in the United States.”

In addition to their agribusiness investments, China has ramped up its public-funded research . Since 2008, China has outspent the U.S. in comparable public sector spending for agricultural research, and furthermore, since 2019, China has spent twice as much, or double, as the U.S.

“This is all part of the BRICS initiative, Brazil, Russia, India, and China. And we know that actually the Brazil has fast forward their agriculture development in their nation,” Tom says. “We know that now they are leading suppliers and a lot of the commodities that are produced in the world today, whether it’s corn, soybeans, wheat, beef, hogs, and they’re getting into the biofuels. Because of the theft of some of these intellectual property products that we had here in the United States, namely genetics, corn genetics, we know that China in a few years here will probably be self -sufficient on corn.”

China Slaps Duties on EU Pork Imports

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 19:22:35 GMT

China has imposed preliminary duties on pork imports from the European Union, a move set to disrupt shipments from one of the world’s biggest suppliers and further stoke trade tensions between Brussels and Beijing, reports Bloomberg . Major pork exporters Danish Crown A/S and some units of Vion Food Group face duties of 31.3% and 32.7% respectively, according to the ruling. It will be paid as a deposit until the duties are finalized. The duties come as China struggles with a domestic oversupply of pork and sluggish consumption amid a sustained economic downturn. China will impose preliminary levies ranging from 15.6% to 62.4% on cargoes of the meat, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. China accused European companies of dumping certain pork and pig by-products and said its domestic industry has “suffered material injury.” The EU is one of the world’s top pork exporters, second only to the U.S.
More from Pro Farmer.

How Much Meat Will the U.S. Eat in 2025 and 2026?

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 15:48:46 GMT

Domestic availability of red meat, poultry and eggs is projected to increase in 2025, driven by gains in chicken and pork availability, and is expected to rise further in 2026, reports the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS). This increase stems from USDA’s forecast of per capita supply available for use on the domestic market.

How are these numbers determined? ERS says availability, also known as disappearance, serves as a proxy for consumption and includes fresh and processed meat and eggs sold through grocery stores and used in restaurants.

“The latest USDA data indicate 226 lb. of red meat and poultry and about 22 dozen eggs are available per U.S. consumer in 2025. By 2026, per capita availability is forecast to increase to 227 lb. for red meat and poultry and to 23 dozen eggs,” ERS reports.

Data for 2025 and 2026 are forecasts. Per capita meat availability serves as a proxy for consumption and does not reflect indirect uses, such as pet food or food waste.

(Data: USDA)

Chicken Projected to Be Most Consumed Animal Product
For chicken, per capita availability of broiler meat has been growing for many years and is projected to reach 102.7 lb. in 2025 and 102.8 lb. in 2026, ERS says. This will make it the most consumed animal product in the U.S.

However, availability of turkey has been falling in recent years and is projected to reach a low of 13.0 lb.per person in 2025 but increase to 13.6 lb. in 2026.

Per capita table egg availability for 2025 is projected at 21.5 dozen and is projected to increase to 22.9 dozen per person in 2026.

Pork and Beef Projections
ERS reports that pork availability per capita is projected at 49.7 lb. in 2025 and 50.9 lb. in 2026, up from 49.9 lb. in 2024.

Meanwhile, per capita beef availability for 2025 is projected to be slightly lower than 2024 at 58.5 lb., but is projected to decrease further to 56.9 lb. per person in 2026.

Rural America is Facing a Mounting Labor Crisis

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 21:01:26 GMT

The American labor market is reaching a critical turning point that could tighten labor availability in rural industries and slow growth across the U.S. economy. A new quarterly report from CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange warns that demographic shifts and recent policy changes may start impacting businesses as soon as late 2025.

From livestock and crop operations to food processors and rural cooperatives, this labor shortage is becoming especially noticeable in the heart of America’s farmland. Many producers are already struggling to fill roles, and the challenge is expected to intensify in the coming months.

“Barring an unforeseen change in labor force participation rates or immigration policies, the pool of available workers is set to shrink sharply in the next few years,” says Rob Fox, director of CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange. “The problem will be even more serious in states with slower population growth in the Upper Midwest, Corn Belt and Central Plains.”

Demographic Pressures Mount

Fox says the warning signs have been building for years. Labor force participation has steadily declined, birth rates have dropped and immigration policy has become more restrictive.

Between 2022 and 2024, nearly 9 million immigrants arrived in the U.S., driven by global humanitarian crises and relaxed federal rules. While that influx temporarily eased labor constraints, Fox says it only masked deeper, long-term trends.

U.S. fertility rates have fallen from 2.12 children per woman in 2007 to 1.62 in 2023, meaning fewer young people are entering the workforce just as the last of the baby boomers retire. In addition, labor force participation has slipped from a peak of 67% in 2000 to 62% today. Nearly 2.5 million working-age Americans have left the labor force in the past eight months alone.

“There is no single reason people are stepping away,” Fox explains. “It’s a combination of rising caregiving responsibilities, job skill mismatches, mental health challenges and higher disability rates. These are complex issues that won’t be resolved overnight.”

Shrinking Workforce Hits Agriculture Hard

The effects are already being felt across rural America. Farms, food processors, equipment dealers and cooperatives are struggling to find and keep the workers they need to maintain daily operations. Seasonal labor has become harder to find and full-time positions, especially those requiring specialized skills or long hours, are increasingly difficult to fill.

In regions with slower population growth, such as the upper Midwest and central Plains, the challenge is even more acute. These areas often lack the population inflows that help offset workforce losses elsewhere in the country.

While labor has been tight for several years, Fox warns that conditions are poised to deteriorate further.

“What we are facing is not just a cyclical labor issue; it’s a structural one,” he says.

Border encounters have dropped sharply since August 2024, signaling a steep decline in immigration. Combined with rising political pressure to increase deportations, the agricultural labor pool could shrink even more in the months ahead.

“Immigration has long been a key pillar supporting the rural workforce,” Fox notes. “Without a steady flow of new workers, farms and agribusinesses will have to get creative, either by increasing wages, automating tasks or changing how they manage production.”

Technology Offers a Path Forward

In response, more agricultural businesses are turning to technology to help offset the labor gap.

“The key to addressing labor scarcity always lies in innovation,” Fox says. “AI and robotics are no longer limited to the factory floor. They are increasingly being used in fields, dairies and food plants.”

A recent Gallup poll found that nearly one in five workers already uses artificial intelligence in some form each week. At the same time, the cost of robotics has dropped by nearly half in the past decade, making automation more accessible for a broader range of farms and agribusinesses.

CoBank’s report notes that many farm supply customers are using new tools to increase efficiency, improve decision-making and free up time for employees to focus on higher-value responsibilities.

Planning for What Comes Next

As producers look toward 2026, a combination of labor constraints, volatile input costs and shifting policy landscapes will continue to shape decision-making. Fox thinks adaptability will be essential.

“Technology will be critical to agriculture’s future,” he says. “AI and robotics can help farmers do more with fewer workers, boosting efficiency and margins. But investment decisions must be made carefully, especially in this uncertain economic environment.”

Until clearer policies emerge on trade, labor and energy, rural America will need to prepare for continued pressure.

“This is a pivotal moment,” Fox concludes. “Farms that plan ahead, embrace innovation and stay flexible will be best positioned to succeed.”

The Smell You'll Never Forget: A Calf Infested with New World Screwworm

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 16:41:22 GMT

“The stench…it’s like roadkill stewed in infection,” explains Jose Santiago Gallardo Espinosa, a cattle producer from Chiriqui, Panama, describing an animal that has been infected with New World screwworm (NWS). “You’ll smell it before you see it.”

He goes on to describe the appearance. “That little dehorning scrape you didn’t worry about? Now, it’s a fist-sized hole pulsating with maggots. Not on top, under the skin. Hundreds of cream-colored worms with screw-like spines, eating your cow alive.”

It’s a Plague in Panama

Gallardo is a Panamanian livestock production specialist and animal science professional with a diverse and practical background in cattle production, agricultural policy and international ranch management. He currently serves as the technical assistance team manager at Cooleche, R.L., where he leads strategic initiatives in cattle production and technical outreach.

“⁠This ain’t ‘just flies.’ We’ve buried calves eaten alive in 48 hours,” Gallardo stresses. “Post-calving cows are sitting ducks, I found one last week with maggots deep in her vulva, she was trembling as she tried to nurse her calf.”

An animal health professional treating an animal in Panama that has been infected by New World Screwworm.

(Jose Santiago Gallardo Espinosa)

To catch NWS and stop the spread, Espinosa encourages daily wound checks including navels on newborns, vulvas on fresh cows, sheaths on bulls, branding cuts and tagging nicks. Some red flags include a wound that swells overnight or oozes cloudy fluid and a milk tank mysteriously dropping.

“Treat every scratch like a ticking bomb,” he says adding if you find one with a wound acting a little strange, you should “peel back skin edges, and if you see rice-grain maggots with dark spines — sound the alarm.”

He says more than 6,500 cases have erupted across Panama, marching north through Central America like a plague.

“For years, our U.S.-Panama barrier kept NWS at bay,” Gallardo says. “We’d see maybe 25 cases a year — it was a nuisance, not a crisis. Then 2023 hit, and overnight our pastures became war zones.”

He says the reality in Panama is rainy season is maggot season.

“Here, in Chiriquí’s dairy country, it is the perfect storm,” he says. “Rainy season humidity of 90%, 85°F heat and flies everywhere. A single-infected cow bleeds $10/day in lost milk — its life or death for small dairies.”

NWS in Nicaragua

Ernesto José Sequeira Enríquez, an agronomist from Camoapa, Nicaragua, says NWS was eradicated from Nicaragua in the 1990s. He says he first encountered it during an internship in Brazil where he experienced the serious challenge the fly causes.

“When cases began appearing here again last year, I was able to use what I learned in Brazil to prepare veterinary supplies and train people on prevention and treatment,” he explains.

(Ernesto José Sequeira Enríquez)

He says it’s essential to enforce a daily inspection routine, checking every animal carefully for open wounds.

“When you find an infected animal, you’ll typically see a bleeding wound,” Sequeira says. “If the infestation has progressed, there will be a strong, foul smell due to tissue damage and the presence of larvae.”

He encourages U.S. producers to be prepared with sufficient supplies of veterinary medicines and insecticides for both treatment and prevention and to adjust management practices to reduce risk. For example:

When dehorning, branding or ear tagging, apply insecticide spray to the wound immediately.
Ensure proper care of newborn calves by disinfecting the navel with iodine solution as soon as possible, since that is the most common entry point for infestation.

“Although complete control of screwworm is not possible, taking preventive measures significantly reduces the economic and productivity impact of it,” he says. “Early detection and consistent preventive practices are critical to minimizing losses.”
Sequeira stresses a producer’s eyes and hands are their best tools to fight NSW.

“My warning to U.S. ranchers is this isn’t just a Panama problem,” he summarizes. “Newborn calves are maggot magnets. If you lose one calf to a navel infestation, you’ll never sleep again. Make inspections sacred — no excuses. Report fast and hide nothing.”

It’s Endemic in Brazil

Marcelo Costa is a veterinarian, professor and cattle business consultant in Brazil and Paraguay. In 1999, Costa was taught embryo transfer at Camp Cooley in Franklin, Texas. He then returned to his family’s third generation ranching operation where they started Camp Cooley Brazil.

“I have been dealing with screwworm all my life since it is endemic in Brazil,” Costa says. “Screwworm-infected animals happen all months of the year.”

A wound in the animal skin full of screwworm and new fly eggs in the skin borderline

(Marcelo Costa)

Like others, he has experienced finding infected animals with bleeding, foul-smelling wounds. He says animals show discomfort and may not follow the herd as normal.

“Newborn calves are usually the more attacked category because of the navel’s wet and bloody tissue,” he says. “If a screwworm infects the navel, it may open a door at the site for more severe infections that may cause diarrhea, pneumonia and other diseases.”

Costa stresses how much NWS costs producers beyond animal loss and decreased productivity.

“One of the biggest problems with NWS is the increased labor with vigilance and animal treatment,” he summarizes.

Guatemala Producers Are Learning to Cope with NWS

“Screwworm came to teach us the times are changing, and that any type of production is possible and open to any complication,” says Oscar León, a livestock production specialist and agricultural business administrator from Guatemala City, Guatemala. “Brazil learned how to cope with it, and Guatemala is in the process of it. The U.S. is not exempt from it, unfortunately. But with the adequate measures and prevention techniques, one can learn and teach others. We can make the impact less harmful on our production and wallets.”

(Oscar León)

León currently manages his family’s cattle operations and leads LAVAT S.A., a company that imports and distributes innovative animal health and nutrition products tailored to the needs of the Guatemalan livestock sector.

He explains it is important for producers to look for and treat any open wound or bruise as they are the first indicators.

“If an open wound smells like the scent of rotten meat, you will find the presence of screwworms feeding off live tissue,” he says. “Prevention and early timing are the best ways to treat screwworm. Make sure to take your time, observe your cattle, search for a bruise or wounds and treat them properly.”

He also stresses the importance of making sure everyone who works in the farm or ranch is aware of NWS and knows how to react if an infection is found.

Educating U.S. Producers

Chris Womack, a veterinarian and rancher from San Angelo, Texas, says he remembers helping his dad treat calves with NWS infestations.

“I can still remember the smell,” Womack says. “I thought it was cool because I was a little kid, and we dug maggots out of the calves. I can still smell it like it was yesterday, and it was horrible to look at them.”

Womack shares a historic context of NWS, which he says means “man-eater,” on the “Registered Ranching” podcast with Tucker Brown.

Womack also describes the emotional toll on the producer when faced with NWS.

“If you’re a steward of an animal and it has half of its head rotting off, or its abdomen is a gaping wound because the maggots are eating it up, or it gets in their ear and they’re walking around in circles with brain damage because they got meningitis, well, it’s devastating.”

Womack summarizes NWS isn’t just an agricultural issue, it’s a human health concern. Historical accounts and recent data from Panama show NWS can affect humans, particularly vulnerable populations like homeless individuals or those in areas with limited medical access.

Womack says the experiences with NWS during his childhood is the reason he is a veterinarian today. He says there is a generational ignorance in the U.S. regarding NWS, and that is something he is committed to fixing.

“The only way we can overcome ignorance is education,” he stresses.

Your Next Read: Breaking: Mexican Border Closed Again as New World Screwworm Comes Within 370 Miles of the U.S.

The Iowa Gallivant: Finding the Food and People Who Make Up the Best of Rural America

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 21:39:16 GMT

Rural American. Stand-up comedian. Chef. Travel blogger. Fan of pork tenderloins. What do any of these have in common? They all offer a glimpse into the life of JayJay Goodvin, better known as The Iowa Gallivant , who has a cult-like following after traveling through all 99 Iowa counties to find the best pork tenderloin .

His love of rural America and the importance of supporting local food places throughout the country motivate him to bring those passions to light through his blog, The Iowa Gallivant.

Goodvin grew up in the Cedar Rapids area, but his parents were from rural Iowa so visiting small towns and farms was part of his childhood.

“Growing up in the metro areas, that was my fantasy land when I would visit the farm or the small town,” Goodvin says. “It’s been a part of my travels since I was a baby. I’m still just as excited to get out to small-town Iowa and small-town America whenever I can.”

In the late 90s, Goodvin left Iowa and traveled the country to Arizona, Cape Cod, the Florida Keys, Montana, Austin, Texas, the Black Hills of South Dakota and Central Illinois. He lived in Phoenix because he wanted to be close to Las Vegas and L.A. — to try his hand at comedy. He said it didn’t pay very well while he was starting out, but he could always find a job as a cook and found himself gravitating toward the restaurant industry.

“I ended up really loving that culture,” he says. “I think it was Anthony Bourdain that said, ‘it’s like, pirate culture — we’re all a bunch of scallywags in the kitchen and things like that.’ And I just learned how to make great food under really great chefs.”

He says it was a great way to see the country, too.

“I worked with a lot of other cooks, but there was just all sorts of things that happened due to those travels, due to working in that industry that made for some very positive outcomes,” he says.

In 2010, Goodvin came back home and combined his love of food, traveling and family into his blog. What started as a family scrapbooking project on WordPress turned into a travel vlog and now has taken on a life of its own.

“It morphed into my first book, Rural Iowa Sausage , from another project that we did, which is very pork related, called Iowa’s Wurst Road Trip — Casing the State for the Best Sausage ,” Goodvin says.

This trip was a bit of a full circle moment for him as his grandfather had his own meat locker in northwest Iowa.

“As we went along with Iowa’s Wurst Road Trip, I realized just how vital that industry was and needs to be,” he explains. “I learned in the 1970s at its peak, we had over 400 lockers statewide. Now we’re just north of a hundred. COVID actually gave it a renaissance period because a lot of people realize how important it is.”

He says more people want to know where their meat comes from.

“You can literally go to one of our local lockers and shake the hand of the person that you’re helping to keep employed. And that’s huge,” he says. “The revenue mileage on buying a pack of brats at our local lockers goes a lot further, it seems. Because when you when you can actually see how that’s helping somebody put their own food on their table, it’s like, come in and eat, or we all go hungry.”

To hear more of Goodvin’s adventures, upcoming projects and why he finds it so important to share about the food and communities of rural America, watch the latest episode of The PORK Podcast here or on your favorite podcast channels.

Is Food Inflation Heating Up July 4th Grills?

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 17:44:50 GMT

Two industry reports are shining a light on the cost of a July 4^th barbecue.

The economists at Wells Fargo calculate an at-home holiday party for 10 will cost $130. The menu includes chicken breasts, beef sliders, hot dogs, fresh fruit, a vegetable platter, potato salad, corn bread, cake, apple pie, ice cream, beer, wine and soda.

Dr. Michael Swanson, chief agricultural economist within Wells Fargo’s Agri-Food Institute, says year-over-year food inflation is 2.2%.

For notable food prices from the July 4^th report, he cites the following:

Ground beef: Up 7.4%
Boneless chicken breasts: Up 1%
Watermelon and strawberries: Down 0.6%
Potatoes: Up 1%
Egg prices: Up 40%
Ice cream (1.5 quart): Up less than 1%

Swanson says beef prices year over year have been running 6% to 8% higher.

“When you talk to somebody who’s a processor or a packer, there’s not a part of the cow that moves independent from the other parts of the cow so it’s all right in that category 6% to 8% on a year over year basis the last couple of months based on CPI,” he says.

He says for cost-savings, chicken offers the greatest opportunities in the protein category.

“When you look at the composite pricing from USDA, it’s right around $2.42 to $2.45 a pound — including everything from wings and breasts,” he says.

As for hot dogs, Swanson says the blend inside the casing will drive the price.

“If you go with the all-beef frankfurters, yes, they’re up substantially. If you look for a sausage or bratwurst that has a blend of pork and beef in it, you’re probably finding a much better bargain. Pork has been pretty flat year over year,” he says.

Swanson says the effects of highly pathogenic avian influenza are still being reflected in higher egg prices for menu items such as deviled eggs and salads.

As for ice cream, Swanson says the increase in cost is being attributed to additional labor expense in production.

“We’re seeing a little bit of inflation in that category, but just very modest. We have a good supply of cream and milk in the country right now. The dairymen are doing wel. So, what that reflects is kind of that cost of transformation,” he says.

Wells Fargo uses NeilsenIQ data for its analysis.

American Farm Bureau Market Basket Survey
Using its annual survey, The American Farm Bureau Federation says this year’s food prices are resulting in the second-highest cost for an at-home July 4^th barbecue since 2013 when the survey began.

“High prices don’t mean more money for farmers, however. Farmers are price takers, not price makers. Their share of the food retail dollar is just 15%. The cost of running their farm is up — from labor and transportation to taxes,” says AFBF associate economist Samantha Ayoub.

Per AFBF, this year’s cost for an Independence Day cookout will cost $70.92 for 10 people. Included in the calculations are cheeseburgers, chicken breasts, pork chops, potato salad, strawberries and ice cream.

Last year was the highest cost found by the survey at $7.39 per person.

Year-over-year retail price increases in 2025 include:

2 lb. of ground beef: Up 4.4% to $13.33
Pork and beans: Up 20¢ to $2.69
Potato salad: Up 6.6% to $3.54

Notable reductions, compared to 2024, in food prices per the survey were:

3 lb. package of pork chops: Down 8.8% to $14.13
Chips: Down 10¢ to $4.80 a bag
Hamburger buns: Down 2.6% to $2.35

Agriculture in the Bull's-Eye: Raids Reportedly Resume on Farms, Meatpacking Plants

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 18:40:22 GMT

After President Donald Trump reportedly ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE ) to pause raids on farms and meatpacking plants last week, new reports say the administration is reversing course again. The on-again, off-again reports regarding ICE raids is sowing confusion for those who rely on immigrant labor and already causing labor shortages due to employees not showing up for work.

There was an update again late Friday, with President Trump saying he’s looking at new immigration policy steps that would allow farms to take responsibility for people they hire.

The Washington Post first reported Monday that ICE officials told leaders representing field offices across the country they must continue to conduct raids at worksite locations, which is a reversal from guidance issued just days earlier.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wouldn’t confirm the Washington Post’s report, but an agricultural association told Farm Journal the article is accurate based on their discussions with the administration.

Instead, DHS told us this:

“The president has been incredibly clear. There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE’s efforts,” says DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safe guard public safety, national security and economic stability. These operations target illegal employment networks that undermine American workers, destabilize labor markets and expose critical infrastructure to exploitation.”

By Friday, there was another update. Reuters reported President Trump said he was looking at immigration policy steps that would allow farms to take responsibility for people they hire.

“We’re looking at doing something where, in the case of good, reputable farmers, they can take responsibility for the people that they hire and let them have responsibility, because we can’t put the farms out of business,” Trump told reporters. “And at the same time we don’t want to hurt people that aren’t criminals.”

According to Farm Journal’s Michelle Rook, the recent ICE raids are already creating absenteeism and labor shortages that could severally disrupt the U.S. food supply. Ag groups are again calling for immigration reform with hopes the issue will finally come to a head.

Ripple Effect of Immigration Crackdown

Joe Del Bosque, owner of Del Bosque Farms in Firebaugh, Calif., is experiencing the rollercoaster with labor, saying the shifting policy strikes fear in farmers and workers.

“There’s so much uncertainty as to what the administration’s going to do,” Del Bosque told Rook on AgriTalk this week.

Del Bosque says the raids on California produce farms are disrupting the harvest of perishable produce.

“They haven’t been really huge sweeps. They’re usually picking up a few people. But it creates a lot of fear, and people don’t show up to work. That’s just as bad as if they were taken away,” he says.

According to an exclusive report by Farm Journal’s The Packer , the ripple effect of Trump’s immigration crackdown on agriculture could be far-reaching — if the administration revives its focus on ag.

Kevin Kelly is the CEO of Emerald Packaging — the largest flexible packaging supplier to the leafy greens industry. Based in Union City, Calif., the company has been in the packaging business for 62 years. Kelly says the immigrant workforce in California is feeling uncertain and afraid.

“We’ve certainly heard folks aren’t turning up to work in the fields, and we’ve seen it in our facility. We verify everybody, so we know everybody in our facility is documented and can legally work in the United States,” Kelly tells Jennifer Strailey, editor of The Packer. “In our case, it’s brothers and sisters being deported, and other family members being afraid. Our employees are staying home to help their family members move, to take care of them or to take them to see an attorney — that kind of thing.”

Dairy operations in several states have also been raided recently. Dairy producers say they rely on immigrant labor to provide a stable year-round work force and to keep the U.S. food supply stable.

“We need these people to take care of our animals so we can produce food. Without animal care, we won’t have milk, cheese, butter — nothing,” Greg Moes, MoDak Dairy in Goodwin, S.D., told Rook.

The recent ICE arrests at Glenn Valley Foods of Omaha, Neb. have also led to absenteeism at meat processing plants.

“At the beginning of the Trump administration, we had this same worry with the crackdown — whether this was going to impact absenteeism and things like that,” says Brad Kooima, Kooima Kooima Varilek in Sioux Center, Iowa. “So, hopefully we can put that in our rearview mirror.”

By the Numbers: A Heavy Reliance on Immigrant Labor
The news this week of the Trump administration putting a pause on raids of farms and meat processors is welcome news for those in agriculture. From dairies and produce farms, to meatpacking plants across the U.S., these sectors rely heavily on immigrant labor.

Immigrant labor makes up a substantial portion of the meat processing workforce, with estimates ranging from 37% to over 50%. However, states like South Dakota and Nebraska have even higher concentrations of immigrant workers in meat processing — reaching 58% and 66%, according to the nonprofit Migration Policy Institute.

And a large portion of U.S. dairy farms rely on immigrant labor, with estimates indicating that over half of all dairy workers are immigrants. Specifically, these workers account for 51% of the total dairy workforce and are responsible for producing 79% of the U.S. milk supply.

Farmworker Justice estimates 70% of the produce industry’s farmworkers are immigrants. USDA’s estimates are lower — closer to 60%.

U.S. Immigration Officials Raid Meat Production Plant in Omaha, Dozens Detained

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 12:07:01 GMT

An immigration raid on Tuesday at a meat production plant in Omaha, Nebraska was the “largest worksite enforcement operation” in the state during the Trump presidency, the Homeland Security Department said.

U.S. Congressman Don Bacon told local media 75-80 people were detained.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid happened at a plant of Glenn Valley Foods. The food packaging company said it was surprised by the raid and had followed the rules regarding immigration status.

Chad Hartmann, president of Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha, said the plant that was raided used E-Verify, a federal database used for checking employees’ immigration status. He told Reuters that when he said this to a federal agent, the agent responded “the system is broken” and urged him to contact his local congressional representative.

ICE officers have been intensifying efforts in recent weeks to deliver on U.S. President Donald Trump’s promise of record-level deportations. The White House has demanded the agency sharply increase arrests of migrants in the U.S. illegally, sources have told Reuters.

Tensions boiled over in Los Angeles over the weekend when protesters took to the streets after ICE arrested migrants at Home Depot stores, a garment factory and a warehouse, according to migrant advocates.

Local police in Omaha said they were informed by immigration officials about the raid in advance while the company said it got no notice about the operation ahead of time.

Hartmann said federal agents had a warrant that said they had identified 107 people who they believed were using fraudulent documents.

“This was the largest worksite enforcement operation in Nebraska under the Trump Administration,” the Homeland Security Department said on X, adding no law enforcement official was hurt.

While carrying out an enforcement operation in Omaha, Nebraska an illegal alien from Honduras threated federal officers and agents with a box cutter.

These are the type of threats and assaults our brave law enforcement face every day as they put their lives on the line to… https://t.co/K6427agqlS
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) June 11, 2025

ICE said a criminal investigation was ongoing into what immigration officials called a large-scale employment of immigrants who are present in the U.S. illegally.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and federal law enforcement partners, executed a federal search warrant at Glenn Valley Foods, today, based on an ongoing criminal investigation into the large-scale employment of aliens without authorization to work in the United States,” an ICE spokesperson told an ABC News affiliate.

More than half of all meatpacking workers in the U.S. are immigrants, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a think tank.

Rights advocates, including the ACLU of Nebraska, condemned the raid.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Editing by Michael Perry)

3 Factors Fueling Americans' Obsession with Protein

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 15:48:10 GMT

Meat is having a moment, and the craze for more protein is benefiting protein across the board. The fact cattle prices continue to crush records is proof of that, as well as the robust demand for pork.

“I am still bullish of dairy. I’m bullish of beef. I’m bullish of pork and poultry,” says Dan Basse, AgResource Company . “I think as you think forward, I see the next two or three years as being the years of protein. It’s that side of the fence in agriculture that’s going to do very well.”

Basse’s optimistic outlook on protein hinges on one major factor: consumers’ ability to pay for it.

“I’m still bullish of protein, until we see the labor force start to shrink in the United States, and I start to see disposable income coming down. Again, there’s not a period looking backward in history that I can find where disposable income on a personal basis has risen this quickly from 2020 to 2025,” he says.

“Meat protein, not just pork or not just beef, but meat is having a moment. I’m an economist, so I have concerns on the macroeconomic front, but it is exciting to be in an era where the public’s desire for meat protein is growing,” says Glynn Tonsor, a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University.

People Are Eating More Protein Than Ever Before

Cargill’s 2025 Protein Profile found people are eating more protein than ever before. The report found 61% of consumers report increasing their protein intake in 2024, which is up from 48% from 2019.

According to Cargill, the shift in shoppers’ preferences toward whole, minimally processed foods, is giving protein a chance to shine.

“It’s really important to remember the U.S. public wants meat protein,” Tonsor says. “There are a lot of signs. We are in a pro protein environment. I don’t think there’s issues. I actually think there is a celebration about the taste and the eating experience and so forth for all the major proteins.”

A Slight Shift in May’s Monthly Meat Demand Monitor

Tonsor also authors what’s called the Monthly Meat Demand Monitor (MDM) , which tracks U.S. consumer preferences, views and demand for meat. The first half of the year, the MDM continued to show consumers’ growing demand for protein, but in the report in May, it did show a slight shift.

“The biggest takeaway from the MDM would be we have two conflicting patterns,” says Tonsor. “One is the public really wants meat protein, but the macroeconomic environment is giving us some pause. So, we continue to see strong signals people want protein. Taste is leading that decision, so that’s good and very supportive, but we also see lots of uncertainty on the macro-economic front. So, trade discussions, elevated unemployment, inflation concerns and so forth. Those are not supportive of meat demand, so those are the two trends that are fighting the way out.”

Tonsor points out the May MDM showed a pullback in consumers eating away from home, like in restaurants, but showed a boost in retail demand, which would be grocery stores.

“But part of that is a substitution away from restaurants,” he says. “And that’s across the board. It’s not just pork or beef or chicken. It’s all of them that we track, so I do think it is a headwind that is growing here in 2025.”

Tonsor says if confidence in the economy rebounds, and tariff discussions ease, the restaurant piece of meat demand could quickly recover, especially considering we’re entering the summer months, where meat demand is typically higher.

3 Major Drivers Behind the Protein Craze

And even with the pause in restaurant demand in May, Tonsor says the push for consumers to eat even more protein doesn’t seem to be going away, and it’s being driven by three major factors.

“More people are having meat as an ingredient rather than center of the plate. So, it’s coming across as more convenient. It’s an input,” Tonsor says. “Also younger folks in particular are quite physically active, and their demand for protein and that broader lifestyle is elevated.”

Those two factors are strong drivers of meat demand, especially in the younger crowd. But another supportive piece of the growing demand for protein is related to weight loss drugs.

“We have a GLP-1 effect, so Ozempic, Mounjar and so forth, in the MDM, we put out a report earlier this year, showing maybe 15% of the U.S. public is using the GLP-1,” Tonsor says. “That’s a higher end, but that’s what we estimate. And if you are on those products, you’re actually consuming beef, pork and chicken more frequently.”

He says all of those things add up to support the growth in meat demand.

“It’s the income and the future status of my finances is mainly the only headwind at the moment, and that’s why I keep reiterating that concern,” Tonsor says.

Demand is What’s Pushing Cattle Prices to New Highs

It’s not just the hog industry that’s benefiting from the strong demand, both domestically and with exports

Cattle prices continue to crush records. But according to one veteran cattle analyst, it’s not historically tight cattle numbers pushing prices higher, it’s the strong demand.

“This price increase that we’re experiencing in the industry is demand-driven,” says Randy Blach, CEO of CattleFax. “Our per capita supplies were flat last year. They’re going to be flat again this year. And yet we’ve had a market that’s gone from a $1.75 to $2.25. That’s all been demand driven with what we’ve seen throughout the industry.”

The incredible demand is pushing beef demand to its highest level in nearly 40 years.

“Beef demands that are a 37-year high,” he says. “And I think when people think about demand, obviously quality has been the key to that. We’ve seen the quality of the animals being produced has increased substantially.”

As record-high cattle prices also push the cost of beef higher, that would push consumers to eat more pork and chicken in the past. But it’s a trend Tonsor is not largely seeing this time around.

“We see some of that, but not nearly as much as you might think. So, there’s less of that adjustment than historically we would have seen,” Tonsor says. “This is 100% Glynn’s opinion, but I think habits are a little stickier. Persistence of an item in your meal is a little sticker than in the past. Meat is an ingredient, not just the center of the plate. Higher beef prices have not elevated chicken demand as people have expected, and I think it’s because the consumer substitution effects, they exist, but they’re not as strong as they were 20 years ago.”

As consumers crave more protein, it’s a bright spot for all of livestock with many hopeful this isn’t just a trend but a permanent fixture on consumers’ plates.

EU Halts Brazil Poultry and Meat Imports After HPAI Outbreak

Mon, 19 May 2025 15:55:03 GMT

Brazil, the world’s largest poultry exporter and main poultry meat importer into the European Union, is no longer allowed to ship poultry and meat products to the EU due to the recent outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).

Brazil confirmed the country’s first HPAI outbreak on a commercial farm in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul on May 16.

The entire territory of Brazil has suspended its official status of being “free of highly pathogenic avian influenza.” The EU joins with bans from top buyer China, Reuters reported. According to a European Commission spokesperson, EU import conditions require that the country of export (Brazil) is free of HPAI.

Why do U.S. farmers need to pay attention?

There are two reasons for U.S. farmers to be watching the developments of the disease and its effect on the Brazilian poultry industry.

Dan Basse, AgResource Company, says Brazil poultry exports account for about 33% of the global poultry supply.

“A good portion of that goes to China,” Basse says. “The Chinese are out and already saying that they are going to be restricting Brazilian poultry but, we’ll see. The Chinese took last year about 570,000 tons of Brazilian product. I don’t know where they would replace it–but they’re not going to do it from the United States with the trade war.”

He says another reason to watch is the feed side of the Brazilian poultry flock.

“Those birds consume a lot of meal and a lot of corn, it’s like 17.6 million metric tons of Brazilian meal, and 42 to 43 million tons of corn,” Basse says. “So we’ve got to think about this not only from a export opportunity for US poultry, but from a demand concern of what the Brazilians will do in terms of feed consumption. They’ll become more aggressive in offering meal and corn to the world market if flocks down there do need to be depopulated and are starting over.”

What are teh next steps?

Restriction on poultry exports follows rules agreed on with each importing country, based on international health certificate requirements, the Agriculture and Livestock ministry told the Associated Press (AP). Depending on the type of the disease, some deals apply to the whole country while others involve limits on where products can come from — for example, a specific state, city or just the area of the outbreak.

Countries like Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines have already accepted this regional approach, AP reported.

Brazil exported more than 5 million tons of poultry meat in 2024. Reuters reported that approximately 4.4% headed to the EU. Of total EU poultry imports, Brazil is the main origin with a share of 32% last year, according to official EU data.

The U.S. bird flu outbreak and wider trade tensions with Washington have limited Chinese appetite for American poultry. China now blocks poultry from more than 40 U.S. states over HPAI, according to U.S. government data, Reuters reported .

If the HPAI outbreak spreads across Brazil, as it did in the U.S., officials and analysts said outlooks could get dimmer, Reuters reported. That scenario would raise U.S. hopes for China to ease restrictions on American poultry.

Under a Phase 1 trade agreement China signed with U.S. President Donald Trump during his first term in 2020, China is supposed to lift statewide bans on U.S. poultry 90 days after states eliminate bird flu from infected farms.

However, China has kept bans in place longer than it had agreed in that deal, according to the article.

Greg Tyler, CEO of the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council industry group, told Reuters he is hopeful China will move back to abiding by that regionalization agreement.

Your Next Read: Certainty in Uncertain Times: How Maria Zieba Fights for U.S. Pork Producers in DC

Grassley: I Still Support Trump, But Congress Should Lead On Trade, Tariffs

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 18:08:57 GMT

With financial markets spiraling deeper into the red, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is pounding the table in support of a bill that would wrestle back the executive branch’s authority to enact unilateral world trade decisions without Congressional approval.

The senior senator from Iowa has long held the belief the U.S. Constitution gives Congress direct oversight in regulating foreign commerce. Grassley says the legislature has deferred this authority to the executive branch since the 1960s, and it’s time to claw that power back within the walls of Congress.

“The impression is that I’m doing this because of what Trump did last week. It has nothing to do with that,” Grassley told AgriTalk host Chip Flory on Monday. “This president is doing what Congress gave him the power to do, right? I felt the same way in 2019 and I tried to get some changes then.”

Now, Grassley says he is simply piggybacking on the heightened awareness of trade tariffs after last week’s “Liberation Day” announcements from the Rose Garden. He still supports the President’s overall agenda and is hoping for the best-case scenario – which would entail a worldwide negotiation process to balance trade deficits among the U.S. and its trade partners.

“If he’s successful in putting tariffs on other countries to get them to sit down at the table to bring all tariffs down, I’m going to say he did a better job than my approach of negotiating tariffs down,” Grassley says, adding that the administration can immediately help farmers by supporting a new 5-year Farm Bill and directing the EPA to approve year round E-15 fuel availability.

Under the proposed bipartisan legislation – which is co-sponsored by a handful of U.S. Senators from across the nation – the Trade Review Act of 2025 would require congressional approval of new unilateral tariffs proposed by the executive branch within 60 days.

Over the weekend, senior Trump administration officials, including USDA chief Brooke Rollins, made the rounds on the Sunday morning political TV programs to try to assure corn and soybean farmers – who have suffered profit line hits from two years of inflated operating expenses and low commodity prices – that the President’s tariff strategy would eventually pencil out to long-term gains in domestic manufacturing and crop export markets.

Then, on Monday morning, Trump posted on social media saying he will impose an additional 50% in tariffs (on top of the current 54% rate) on China by April 9 if the country did not back off the 34% retaliatory tariffs it enacted on American goods. Ag economists say the China tariffs will have a devastating impact on U.S. crop and meat exports, and many believe the tariffs have effectively handed Chinese feed and fiber demand to Brazil.

Related: As China Retaliates and Hits U.S. With a New 34% Tariff, What’s the Possible Impact on Ag?

(iStock/Lori Hays)

The U.S. today is China’s largest ag trading partner, but 2024 import data shows that relationship could be fading fast: shipments of U.S. farm goods into China nearly halved from 2022 levels, when China purchased almost $43 billion in U.S. ag products. Last year, that figure plummeted to $29 billion, and many expect the tariffs will slash that figure even lower. China has also torn up or suspended several trade deals with U.S.-based poultry producers, and some experts fear a decrease in demand for U.S. pork products could be devastating to American hog farmers.

Related: Pork Producers Resist Urge to Panic, Respond to New Tariffs

Overall, despite alarm bells being sounded from basically every corner of the economy, the senate’s current longest-tenured member is hopeful there’s a light at the end of this long, roller coaster tariff tunnel for America’s farmers and ranchers.

“If we can export our stuff in a free way, it’s going to help the economy of the United States, and it’s going to help our consumers if we don’t have tariffs on products coming into the United States,” Grassley says. “I’m supportive of the President’s effort to get a better deal for Americans, especially for our farmers because we export about a third of our production, and that’s where farmers want to get it.”

Your Next Read: Ag Markets Try to Recover Early Monday, Except Cattle

Pork Producers Could See Quickest Turnaround in Profitability on Record, But Some Still Aren’t Seeing Green

Wed, 19 Mar 2025 15:32:11 GMT

2023 is a year that will be forever etched in producers’ minds, marking the worst year for profitability on record. Economists say 2023 proved to be even more severe than 1998, a year that caused many pork producers to go out of business.

“What hasn’t changed is 2023 was the worst year ever for profitability for our pork producers,” says Lee Schulz, chief economist for Ever.Ag. “Now, what has changed is 2024 was better than forecast, so you can call it roughly breakeven. And 2025 is looking to be a modest level of profitability in that $9 to $10 per head range as market currently sets today.”

2024 produced a slightly better picture, but even then, pork producers across the U.S. are still recovering from a painful 2023.

“There’s a lot of financial healing needing to be done before we really even talk about any meaningful expansion in the industry,” Schulz says.

Even with what Schulz sees as modest profitability for producers today, that improvement is helping paint a better picture — and outlook — for the pork industry in 2025.

“I think this could be the quickest turnaround in pork producer profitability ever, but that also speaks more to what 2023 was and how bad it was than it does about current and future profits,” Schulz says.

Still in Recovery Mode
The Ever.Ag chief economist’s forecast points to another tough reality: Producers won’t get back to break-even levels on their balance sheets until August of this year, a testament to just how steep losses were in 2023.

“There were a lot of losses that need to be covered before we actually start seeing profit,” Craig Andersen, a pork producer located in Centerville, S.D., told Farm Journal’s Michelle Rook. “The pigs are profitable right now, but to make up for the losses, it’s going to take a while to recover from some of that.”

The pork industry is in a recovery phase, but pork producer Terry Wolters told Rook at least it’s improving, as profitability is at least on the horizon this year.

“I think without question, lower grain inputs are a significant help to the livestock producer right now,” Wolters says. “You see the board is trading higher, cutouts have been good, pork demand in general has been good and exports have been good. So, a lot of positive things on the meat side of the industry.”

Another Bright Spot: Robust Pork Exports
U.S. pork exports have been nothing short of impressive. The final 2024 export data from USDA shows U.S pork exports hit record levels last year.

“Not only did we break export volume records, but we broke export value records,” Schulz says. “If you think about it, one way that we know we had an increase in demand was our customers worldwide ate more pork, and they paid higher prices for it.”

U.S. Meat Export Federation says 2024 pork exports reached a record 3.03 metric tons, beating out the previous record set in 2023 of 2.98 metric tons. Today, that historic growth isn’t driven by just one country , and that’s something Halstrom likes to see.

“Broad based growth is the name of the game there,” he says. “It’s really almost the entire world that exports are growing, led by Mexico, Central America, South America, places like Colombia are booming.”

Related Story: U.S. Pork Exports Break Records at $8.63 Billion in Value for 2024

Halstrom says even places like Korea are seeing vigorous pork exports, a trend he forecasts will continue in 2025.

“It’s a pretty good story on pork and going into 2025,” Schulz says. “It’s a much different supply situation on pork versus beef with a lot of potential to grow and set a new record, and we’re forecasting another new record in 2025 for pork.”

Shulz is also optimistic on pork exports in 2025.

“Why also I remain very bullish on U.S. pork exports is 2024 was the first time that the U.S. had surpassed the European Union since 2014 on pork exports,” Schulz says.

Tariff and Trade Concerns
But the one concern — and caveat — is what happens with tariffs.

“They’re not going to stop trade,” Schulz says. “They have the potential to slow trade. When you think about it from a short run impact, there’s reasons why we’ve developed the relationships and we have the product flow that we have. So it’s very difficult in the short run to move and build those relationships to a wide volume. What will happen, however, is pork will become more expensive for those customers, and that’s going to impact trade. But the impact is longer term, I think, in the worry of how long those tariffs last.”

The tariffs are injecting uncertainty into outlooks, but that’s not the only piece that has the pork industry on edge.

“I think the other one that continues to add to the uncertainty is just about the impact of disease out there and how large, widespread an impact that’s having on production,” Schulz says.

Little to No Expansion in the Pork Herd
He says prices have not incentivized any expansion in the pork sector, but the disease piece of the puzzle is one that could sway production estimates in future USDA reports.

“That’s why, I think if you look at USDA estimates and Hog and Pig reports and the need to make some revisions, that’s come because there’s a lot of uncertainty just about the impact of disease and what that’s having on our hog numbers and pipeline supplies,” Schulz says.

Litter rates and carcass weights actually created an increase in pork production over the past year, Schulz points out. But the breeding herd remains flat.

“Another thing is our sow numbers were down in the U.S.; there’s a little bit of retraction in the sow herd,” Adam Annegers of JBS told Farm Journal’s PORK editor and brand lead Jennifer Shike on a recent episode of “The Pork Podcast.” “But if you look at overall production and wean pigs produced, we produced more pigs with fewer sows. There were several health challenges through some months in there, but the genetics that we’re working with have the potential to produce more pigs year over year, even with less sows out there. I’m excited about 2025. Pig markets are looking really good. It’ll be fun to see we can do this year.”

A Year of Stabilization
There’s excitement for 2025, as producers have worked to not outpace current demand, but there’s also caution of what lies ahead for trade and turbulence in the current tariff spats happening around the globe.

“I look at 2025 as stabilizing and maybe the start of a pivot to starting to see some moderate expansion in the industry going forward that we may start to realize in 2026 and 2027,” Schulz says.

As optimism continues to dominate conversations to start this year, it’s a reminder that pork producers find a way to persevere.

“One thing about our producers is they’re so resilient,” says Glenn Muller, executive director of South Dakota Pork Producers Council. “They’re going to come back. They’re going to find a way to survive in the meantime, and this is going to give them some opportunity to backfill some of those holes created due to the poor economy.”

National Pork Board Says New Tagline is About You, But It’s Not For You

Fri, 14 Mar 2025 14:32:15 GMT

The National Pork Board announced the tagline of its new pork campaign, “Taste what pork can do,” before a crowd of pork producers at the National Pork Industry Forum on March 13.

One message stood out to marketing advisory committee members Jennifer Tirey, Rob Brenneman and Gordon Spronk as they discussed the new tagline: I’m not the target. Likely, neither are you.

Here’s why that’s good news.

When Jennifer Tirey, executive director of the Illinois Pork Producers Association, first heard the final tagline, she admits it took her a minute.

“I had to sit with it. I had to say it a couple times,” Tirey says. “At first, I thought it was a little uneventful, that we were trying too hard. But as I thought about the consumer who is not in our lane every day, I was sold. Consumers need to hear this tagline the way it’s presented because we know they are not thinking about our product like we are every day.”

This is Tirey’s tenth year working for Illinois pork producers. Quite frankly, she says recent campaigns felt more like a rally of the home team.

“What’s different about this campaign is that it’s looking beyond the pork producer that already loves our product,” she says. “That’s where I feel like we’ve not hit that home run in the past. A lot of outside perspective was brought in, which is important to play at that level we’re hoping to play. Producers can have confidence that this campaign is being built around what consumers say they want about pork.”

It’s time to open the floodgates of flavor.

(Jennifer Shike)

Iowa pork producer Rob Brenneman wasn’t sure what to think at first either.

“The tagline isn’t meant for pork producers, though. We produce the product and then we want somebody to eat it,” Brenneman says. “We already know what it tastes like, and we don’t need a tagline to eat it. But we have to draw the attention of millions and millions of people who have not experienced raising pigs or being in agriculture.”

Taste Leads the Way
Brenneman stands behind the tagline because it emphasizes the most important thing he produces: tasty pork. Data shows taste and flavor matter to consumers of all ages.

Gordon Spronk, a veterinarian with Pipestone, says he was pleased with the final choice. He values the hard work, research and data that the National Pork Board used in determining the final tagline.

“Do you know what our agency did when they started the process of this campaign?” Spronk asks. “They had a barbecue. They came up with a number of things, and settled on “Taste what pork can do,” because they actually tasted, cooked and ate the pork. I was like, ‘OK, you got me there.’”

He believes the whole industry should pay attention because this is a key moment for the pork industry.

“Old guys like me and the generation coming up with our family farm are in a generational transfer. I’m really more excited for them than me when it comes to this tagline,” Spronk says. “I think they can ride this brand for a long time. It has great potential for a number of reasons.”

“We are unapologetically pork.” The consumer testing was very clear, says National Pork Board’s David Newman, that pork must be in the tagline.

(Jennifer Shike)

Using Pork to Sell Pork
The industry has not had a recognizable campaign stick since the tagline, “Pork. The Other White Meat.” established decades ago, Brenneman says.

One of the biggest reasons he’s excited about this new campaign is that it will use pork to sell pork. It sounds simple, but “Pork. The Other White Meat,” straddled the line between trying to be a little like chicken and a little like beef, Spronk says.

“That was a strategy we learned from,” he says. “We are unapologetically pork. We start at bacon, then go to sausage, pepperoni, ham and on from there.”

It’s Different This Time
This pork campaign will look different than past campaigns for two reasons, Spronk says.

“First, it’s not going to be about billboards, it’s going to be about swipes and clicks and screens that pop up,” he adds. “Second, the National Pork Board has a long effort in collecting the data of who’s actually eating pork. We know consumption for Gen Zs and Millennials is much lower than Baby Boomers. We need to speak to them. This tagline has been thoroughly tested by professionals, it’s not for me. I’m going to eat my 55 lb. regardless of what the tagline says. I’m probably not going to change my eating habits, but they may.”

Data shows younger Americans eat pork less frequently, says David Newman of the National Pork Board. Long-term consumption is at risk, but he says it’s all reversible.

(Lori Hays)

Chad Groves, CEO of Seaboard Foods and a director on the National Pork Board, says the younger generations love the processed side.

“They love bacon, sausage, ham, and we view that as the gateway to fresh pork,” Groves says. “I go back to my childhood, growing up in central Indiana, a pork loin was a part of our meal at least two to three times per week. My kids don’t have that same experience. The younger generations are not being exposed to the fresh pork category like we used to be.”

In the consumer segmentation research, the National Pork Board asked individuals who are not the prime pork audience how they feel about pork.

“A lot of the messaging and promotional campaign items they’re working on are going to be targeted to what those consumers said,” Tirey adds. “It’s not going to be geared to your traditional pork producer that loves making a great pork chop on the weekend on the grill. It’s going to be that consumer that doesn’t have as much knowledge about our product and how they can start adding it into their daily menus. That’s what makes me excited – the research behind the decision making that we are making today.”

Cultural Differences
The “can do” part of the campaign builds on the concept that the ways to add pork to every meal are unlimited. Pork’s 111 flavor profiles baffled Spronk at first.

“The cultural opportunities and ways pork is used globally are astounding,” he says. “I just returned from Cuba and have Cubano sandwiches on my mind. I love pork dumplings in noodle soup and cooking tonkatsu for my friends and family. I promise my grandmother didn’t even know what tonkatsu meant. We have not even scratched the surface of what pork can do in our blended U.S. culture.”

The pork industry doesn’t have the marketing budget to hit everybody, Tirey explains, so being strategic is key. That’s where the consumer segmentation data will help guide efforts to “ fish where the fish are .”

“The campaign won’t use a shotgun approach. We’re not going out to all consumers like some of the campaigns in the past,” Groves says. “This will be very targeted to identify younger consumers and speak to them in a way that resonates with them, whether it’s taste, flavor, convenience or something else, to pull them into the category. This is not an investment for next year. This is an investment into the next 25 years of pork production and beyond.”

Read Next:
What’s The Risk of Doing Nothing About Pork Demand?
We Need a New Playbook in the Pork Industry

2024 U.S. Meat Exports Created 59¢ in Value for Corn, $1.46 for Soybeans

Wed, 05 Mar 2025 21:56:22 GMT

Pork exports smashed records last year and beef export value climbed 5% from 2023. With robust red meat exports to finish 2024, a new study by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) shows the economic impact that had on corn and soybean demand.

The study, which was conducted by the Juday Group, was unveiled during the live taping of U.S. Farm Report during Commodity Classic this week. The shows 30% of the pork produced in the U.S. is exported today. And exporting more than 14% of U.S. beef production is consumed outside the U.S. Exporting corn through U.S. beef and pork generated the following demand:

Beef and pork exports accounted for 525.1 million bushels of U.S. corn usage, which equated to a market value of $2.24 billion (at an average 2024 corn price of $4.27 per bushel).
Beef and pork exports accounted for 3.04 million tons of DDGS usage, equating to $525 million (at an average 2024 price of $172.56 per ton).
Beef and pork exports contributed an estimated total economic impact of 14%, or $0.59, of bushel value at an average price of $4.27 per bushel in 2024.
Pork exports accounted for 100.7 million bushels of U.S. soybean usage, which equated to a market value of $1.12 billion (at an average 2024 soybean price of $11.11 per bushel).
Pork exports contributed an estimated total economic impact of 13.2% of bushel value, or $1.46, at an average price of $11.11 per bushel in 2024.

“We send a lot of corn and soybeans out through us beef and pork and when you look at that, every hog that we export outside the United States, that’s 10 bushels of corn,” says John Hinners, Senior Vice President, Industry Relations, U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). “The Dave Juday study shows the impact of that is 59 cents on a bushel of corn in 2024 on that impact and then $1.46 on a bushel of soybeans. So it has significant impact.”

Corn demand generated from meat exports.

(U.S. Meat Export Federation)

Hinners says bottom-line is the corn and soybean industry are critical in U.S. Meat Export Federations’ efforts to grow global demand for U.S. red meat.

“World demand for protein has never been better. And when you think about what we do as an organization, we’re trying to build profit opportunities in the agriculture business, not specifically one sector or another, but just red meat in total,” he says. “And it has an impact on everything we do in agriculture, whether that’s the corn grower, the soybean grower, and so forth.”

Soybean demand generated from meat exports in 2024.

(U.S. Meat Export Federation)

Hinners says the U.S. isn’t exporting the high-quality cuts of meat, like ribeyes or New York steaks. Most of those cuts are consumed here at home. What the U.S. does export, and provides value, is the cuts and parts of an animal that aren’t preferred by U.S. consumers.

“When you think about what we send outside of the United States, it’s not the ribeye steaks and New York strips. It’s the beef liver, it’s the tripe on that animal. It’s the pork tails, the feet, the snout. A lot of these good protein items are garnished and really welcome in different countries,” says Hinners. “We’re trying to add value to these items that we don’t traditionally consume here in the United States. And it’s great protein.

(U.S. Meat Export Federation)

Exploring the Tariff Impact on Red Meat Exports
According to the USMEF, total U.S. red meat exports in 2024 was $19.1 billion. Mexico, China and Canada add up to 8.4 billion of the total, about 40%. USMEF president and CEO Dan Halstrom told Farm Journal’s Clinton Griffiths the impact remains unknown as it remains a ‘fluid situation.’

“I think the important thing to remember is that just because there’s tariff doesn’t mean the trade stops,” says Halstrom. “What it does do is it opens the doors of some of our competitors. Use Mexico as example. If we have a retaliatory duty on our products, beef or pork, we are competing against Brazilian product, for example, coming into Mexico. So that’s a very big focus that we have. They were a competitor before this when we were all zero -duty, and it’ll even be more so with a duty.”

Halstrom says it’s key to think longer term about the situation and what it could mean for export potential in the future.

“I personally think that the Trump administration, one, had our back in agriculture. I don’t think there’s any reason to think that they won’t again, but it will be a bumpy ride.”

During the previous Trump administration, the president renegotiated the free trade agreement between Mexico and Canada, which is known as the U.S., Mexico, Canada agreement (USMCA).

“We were on schedule for a review of USMC anyway in 2026, so there is an effort I think to move it up quicker, which might actually work to our advantage. We’ll have to wait and see,” Halstrom says. “This is sort of the concern when you start putting bilateral, unilateral duties on countries that you are kind of outside the confines of the free trade agreement structure. But like I said, it’s a very fluid situation. I do think the other thing that we have that’s definitely in our favor is that demand for our products globally is record breaking. I mean, it’s as good as I’ve ever seen it in 40-plus years. We have a very unique product. We’ve got to kind of keep that in mind because that’s a big leverage point.”

USDA Prepares to Protect Farmers in a Trade War

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 22:28:13 GMT

As the clock struck midnight on March 4, President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China went into effect. Almost immediately, global markets started to react, and trading partners retaliated.

While the full economic consequences of the trade war remain to be seen, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has promised to have a plan, such as the Market Facilitation Program (MFP), ready for farmers, if needed. In 2019, MFP provided direct payments to producers impacted by retaliatory tariffs, resulting in the loss of traditional exports.

“Everything is on the table right now. Everything. I know that President Trump, whom I speak with regularly, realizes the state of the farm economy in this country,” Rollins said on Sunday at Commodity Classic . “The last time, I know, he pushed Secretary Perdue to ensure we were able to make whole–as best as we could–some of those, and hopefully most of those, if not all, who had been hurt. We’re building the team at USDA to ensure we have the structure and the plan in place to allow us to move very quickly.”

In an interview with Farm Journal at Commodity Classic, USDA Economist Seth Meyer says he has been instructed by Secretary Rollins to be ready for a relief program, and he’s started calculating what possible relief could look like.

“Calculating something right today would not be helpful because we don’t know where we’re going to be, but absolutely, the Secretary instructs: ‘You need to be ready, have your pencil sharpened and have your tools available. Think about how you would proceed,’” Meyer says. “We are ready in that backstop. It won’t be easy. We’ve talked a lot about different countries. We’ve talked about reciprocal trade, but we are indeed sharpening our pencils to be able to do what she’s asked us to do.”

Here are the key details of the U.S. tariffs and retaliation from Canada, Mexico and China.

(Farm Journal)

Canada responded swiftly with plans to impose 25% tariffs on nearly $100 billion of U.S. imports over two tranches. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum plans to announce retaliatory tariff and non-tariff measures against the U.S. at an upcoming rally in Mexico City’s central square.

Meyer’s question is, “Can Mexico afford to retaliate?”

(Farm Journal)

As President Trump’s tariffs drew swift retaliation from trading partners, the ag industry was quick to react.

Impact on Farm Machinery
Equipment makers are concerned about the additional duties, especially after a rough year for the industry.

“We have spent decades laying down supply chains across the world. Our industry is global — 30% of all equipment made in the U.S. is destined for export. Canada is our largest market outside of the U.S.,” says Johan “Kip” Eideberg, senior vice president – government and industry relations, Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM). “If we want to create more jobs here in America, we need to sell more equipment and that means selling to customers outside of the U.S.”

As detailed in From the Factory to Your Fields: Where Farm Equipment Is Made , the ag equipment manufacturing industry is fully integrated across the three North American allies involved in the so-called “trade wars.”

“Anytime you disrupt those tightly connected supply chains — and tariffs would be a direct disruption — it’s going to have a serious impact on equipment manufacturers and on our farmers,” Eineberg says. “Given that Canada is our largest export market, we’re sending almost $10 billion worth of goods to Canada every year, there’s a lot at stake here.”

In 2018, Eineberg estimates, tariffs on steel, aluminum and farm inputs from China drove up the cost of making equipment in the U.S. by about 9 percentage points.

“Obviously, manufacturers will try to absorb as much of that as they can, but inevitably some of it will be passed down to the consumer, which in this case is our farmers and ranchers,” he adds.

AEM is also sounding the alarm on the compounding effect of tariffs, specifically due to the tight integration of manufacturing cycles on both sides of the border. There are often cases, Eineberg says, where components and raw materials are shuttled three to five times across the border between different factories in the manufacturing process. That means each time a piece of steel or other raw material being manufactured into a component for a tractor crosses the border, the tariffs multiply.

An example of the cross-border journey of one piece of agriculture equipment from raw material to delivery on the farm.

(AEM)

Impact on Rural America and Fertilizer
American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall expressed alarm about potential harm to farmers resulting from imposing stiff tariffs on the top three agricultural markets by value for the U.S.

“Farm Bureau members support the goals of security and ensuring fair trade with our North American neighbors and China, but, unfortunately, we know from experience that farmers and rural communities will bear the brunt of retaliation.” Duvall says.

Of note, more than 80% of the U.S. supply of potash , a key fertilizer product, comes from Canada.

“Tariffs that increase fertilizer prices threaten to deliver another blow to the finances of farm families already grappling with inflation and high supply costs,” Duvall adds. “The uncertainty hits just as operating loans are being secured and spring planting approaches, leaving farmers in a tough spot.”

(Farm Journal)

Read: Fertilizer Manufacturers and Retailers React to Trade Tariffs

Impact on Soybeans
During the 2018 trade war with China, U.S. agriculture experienced more than $27 billion in losses, with soybeans accounting for 71% of those losses, according to the American Soybean Association (ASA). Unlike in 2018, farmers are in a more tentative financial situation in 2025. Commodity prices are down nearly 50% from three years ago, while the costs for land and inputs, such as seed, pesticides and fertilizer, are high.

In an ASA statement, it says for years the organization’s farmer-members have consistently maintained their position that they do not support the use of tariffs, which threaten important markets and raise input costs for farmers, as a negotiation tactic.

“Farmers are frustrated. Tariffs are not something to take lightly and ‘have fun’ with. Not only do they hit our family businesses squarely in the wallet, but they rock a core tenet on which our trading relationships are built, and that is reliability. Being able to reliably supply a quality product to them consistently,” says Caleb Ragland, ASA president and soybean farmer from Magnolia, Ky.

Soybeans by far make up the largest volume of ag products exported to China. In 2024, U.S. exporters sent 27 million metric tons of soybeans to China valued at $12.76 billion, according to USDA. Mexico is the second-largest customer for whole soybeans, soybean meal and soybean oil. Canada is the fourth-largest customer for soybean meal.

“Soybean producers face huge, disproportionate impacts from trade flow disruptions, particularly to China,” Ragland says. “And we know foreign soybean producers in Brazil and other countries are expecting abundant crops this year and are primed to meet any demand stemming from a renewed U.S.-China trade war.”

Impact on Corn and Ethanol Demand
Market analysis shows tariffs won’t solve the U.S. trade deficit and instead will just shift business to other countries, says Neil Caskey, CEO, National Corn Growers Association (NCGA).

“We issued a study back in the fall that documented the implications of tariffs and specifically retaliation in a trade war — it’s not good for corn farmers, farmers in general,” he says. “We did that in conjunction with the American Soybean Association, and it concluded a trade war is really only good for Brazil, and we hope to avoid that.”

The top two destinations for corn and ethanol are Mexico and Canada. According to Krista Swanson, chief economist, NCGA, 40% of U.S. corn exports go to Mexico and more than 40% of U.S. ethanol exports are shipped to Canada.

“[Corn] is a commodity [those countries] consume way more than what they produce, so they’re going to have to get it from somewhere,” she says. “There’s definitely some concern about losing corn [exports], but how much is lost is left to be seen because it depends on what happens with shifting trade flows.”

Impact on Beef and Pork Sectors
U.S. meat export could be impacted by the tariff war as well, with China singling out pork and beef for a 10% counter tariff. Mexico, China and Canada accounted for 8.4 billion in U.S. red meat exports last year, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF).

USMEF is disappointed no agreements were reached to avoid or postpone the tariffs, but president and CEO Dan Halstrom says just because there are tariffs, doesn’t mean trade will stop.

“I do think the thing that we have definitely in our favor is that demand for our products globally is record breaking. I mean, it’s as good as I’ve ever seen it in 40-plus years,” he says. “I think that we have a very unique product. We got to keep that in mind because that’s a big leverage point.”

Halstrom says it could be a bumpy ride for a while, but it’s not something exporters can’t overcome.

Read: Industry Comments on Retaliatory Tariffs on U.S. Pork and Beef

Iowa Man Reveals Best Tenderloin from 99-County Tour

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 16:26:59 GMT

After a ‘whirlwind of a sandwich odyssey’ in Iowa, JayJay Goodvin, chief explorer of the Iowa Gallivant, revealed his favorite tenderloin from his 99-county tour.

Just over 10 months ago, Goodvin started a quest to eat a tenderloin in all 99 counties in Iowa. With more than 28 million views of his videos across his social media platforms, the response to his journey left him speechless.

After thoughtful analysis and some soul-searching, Goodvin announced the winner to a live WHO 13 News audience on Feb. 13. The winning tenderloin was served by The Landmark Bistro of Grundy Center, Iowa.

What set this tasty tenderloin apart from the other 98?

“It was a beautiful tenderloin – they really did a great job with the mustard,” Goodvin says. “It was bigger than your compact tenderloin, but it wasn’t huge. The breading was crunchy, but didn’t overpower the flavor of the pork, which was very important. They had great seasoning in that breading.”

Most importantly the staff did a great job, he points out. They were busy, but they got the food out expeditiously. Most importantly, it was served scorching hot.

“It doesn’t matter what style of pork tenderloin you like, it’s got to come out scorching hot,” Goodvin told Farm Journal’s PORK in an earlier interview . “Whether you like them thin, thick, breaded, battered, small or huge elephant ears, it must come out hot. After that, it’s all up to the consumer on what style is their favorite.”

He notes there is a wide spectrum of tenderloins available.

“There is more variety than people realize,” he says. “You can get them battered, broiled, breaded, even served with a wheelbarrow of gravy over mashed potatoes on it.”

Where is the Iowa Gallivant off to next? He says he is starting a project called “99 Specials.” He will be going throughout the entire state of Iowa trying a “special” in every county. He’s hopeful he’ll be able to find 99 different specials from ham balls to hot beef sandwiches and everything in between.

Follow his journey here.

Your Next Read: Mission Complete: Iowa Man Eats a Pork Tenderloin in All 99 Iowa Counties

Unexpected Ways A Missouri Farmer Brings Family Back To The Farm

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 20:29:30 GMT

After some time helping his grandpa on the family farm, Josh Payne decided to leave his teaching career and help run the operation full time.

Because his grandpa had the land and equipment paid for, their 600 acres in Concordia, Missouri provided enough income for two salaries - but Payne knew his sister may want to join them as well. That’s when he adopted the motto “Get Big or Get Weird”.

“We could pick up 1,000 acres, but that means we need more equipment,” he tells Andrew McCrea on the Farming The Countryside podcast. “Instead of getting more acres, we decided that we wanted to take these small pockets of our farm and try to add value to it.”

University of Missouri staff suggested the Paynes try chestnuts.

“At a wholesale level, they’ll produce about 2,000 lb. per acre at $3/lb. wholesale. That’s $6,000 an acre, so if we put 30 acres in, that’s enough for my grandpa, me and my sister to make a go at this,” Payne says.

But there was a catch.

“The problem is we just had to wait 10 years for the first harvest,” he says.

From Chestnuts To Sheep To Hogs
The family went ahead and planted their chestnut orchard, and alley cropped corn, soybeans and cover crops as they waited for it to grow. They still needed a plan B in the meantime, though. That became sheep.

“We chose sheep because the math is really good,” Payne says. “If you can have three ewes per acre, at a very wholesale level, you end up with four lambs per acre. If you sell the lambs for $200, that’s $800 per acre, and you’re going to spend about $100 per acre. That’s significantly better profit-wise than any sort of row crops.”

The main economic driver of the farm turned from row crops to sheep quickly. The Paynes began direct marketing the lamb and selling breeding stock to drive an even higher price for their products.

The sheep now account for 300 of the farm’s acreage, and the family has another new venture up their sleeves as well.

“Our next project is to take 110-acre plot and turn it into a wholesale pasture pork operation that we’re actually really excited about,” Payne says.

Just like the sheep, Payne has a plan mapped out for the hogs.

“We’re trying to take a hoop house and grow grains in between tree rows. We’re going to plant these rows of trees that eventually will drop fruit - mulberries, persimmons, apples, chestnuts, etc.,” he explains. “Eventually those will provide significant amounts of feed for those pigs. Then we’re going to grow grains in between.”

But there’s a bigger picture behind the farm’s hog expansion.

“My brother in law works in Kansas City, and he wants to be able to not drive to Kansas City,” Payne says. “We said is there a way that we can make enough money on acres of land that we have that he doesn’t have to drive to Kansas City?”

People As The Driver
The driver on Payne’s farm is people. He says if you want to do the same with your family, you have to find something meaningful for them to do, that they know how to do and that they can make money with.

“If you were to take a 1,000-acre farmer, and you were to take 40 of that out of row crops or modify it, all of a sudden, this 1,000-acre farmer is a 960-acre farmer, and they have a 40-acre operation that their son or daughter runs,” Payne says. “At commodity prices today, that could make as much profit and probably more. You just need more people. And for me, that’s just good news.”

He adds one caveat to be ready for.

“You just have to be willing to let the coffee shop talk and tell stories about you,” he says.

Watch more of the Farming The Countryside podcast here