2016: Year in Review
Making a difference.
That is what we strive for. In 2016, your association continued to work for you, to make a difference. From taking action and being a part of the decisions that affect your industry, to promoting the pork that you raise with hard work and care, we strive to work with your best interest in mind. And we’re making connections — building relationships and engaging in conversation with people who are interested in knowing more about pork and the farmers who raised it. This review provides a summary of what your association has done for you in 2016. Thank you to our many volunteers, National Pork Board, National Pork Producers Council, and of course, our farmers for continuing to be behind our success.
Taking Action
Promoting Pork
Building Relationships
President-CEO Tim Stroda Director of Consumer Outreach Jodi Oleen Director of Communications Kim Hanke
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2016 Board of Directors
We’ll keep working hard for you.
Engaging Conversation
Chairman: Jim Crane - Boxholm Mark Crane - Chapman Jeff Dohrman - Bushton Daniel Gerety - Seneca Jason Hall - Elkhart Scott Pfortmiller - St. John Art Sauder - Great Bend Chuck Springer - Independence Jim Nelssen - Kansas State University
2016: Year in Review • Legislative and Regulatory Issues. In the state legislature, your association worked to ease the path for new or expanding swine operations in the state. The KPA was a member of a business coalition which provided input on immigration legislation. The KPA also worked to ensure the funding for the Feral Swine Control Program was protected. On regulatory issues, the KPA worked on behalf of producers with the Kansas Department of Revenue, the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s Division of Water Resources, and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. On the Federal level, the KPA worked with NPPC on issues including food safety, antibiotics, labeling, free trade agreements, trucking, animal welfare, nutrient management, water quality and price reporting. • National Pork Industry Forum. Representatives from Kansas attended the National Pork Industry Forum held in Indianapolis. Forum serves as the annual meetings of the National Pork Board and the National Pork Producers Council. The delegates encouraged all producers to work with veterinary diagnostic labs to enhance traceability systems as new animal health issues arise. The delegates also recommended that the groups work cooperatively to address issues around transportation and biosecurity including scheduling and wait times as well as unloading/animal handling. • Foreign Animal Disease Exercise. More than 200 individuals, including KPA staff, participated in an emergency preparedness exercise held by the Kansas Department of Agriculture in December. The exercise was a practice of the state’s response plan to a foreign animal disease (FAD) event, which was based on the confirmation of foot-and-mouth disease in the U.S.
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• KPA celebrates 60 years. Throughout the year, Pig Tales recognized accomplishments in areas of promotion, legislation, collaboration with KSU, producer events and leadership.
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2016: Year in Review • Veterinary Feed Directive. Began working with the National Pork Board to share information with producers regarding the VFD rules change. Continued this effort throughout the year.
• Pork Chop Open. The Golf Club at Southwind in Garden City was the venue for the 2016 fundraiser. The annual golf tournament brought together producers and industry partners for an 18-hole scramble.
• Winternship. KPA staff hosted a session during Seaboard Food’s annual Winternship program in Guymon, Okla. The focus of the presentation was about “agvocating” on social media while sharing about the pork industry, addressing hot topics and how to effectively address negative comments. Photo courtesy of Seaboard
• Pig Tales. Pig Tales is the official publication of the Kansas pork industry and continues to reach producers and industry partners on both the state and national levels. • E-Newsletter. This daily email features both state and national news, including consumer programs, legislative information, regulatory updates, producer education and export reports. • In Pursuit of Pork. KPA continues to manage this restaurant guide blog. Content includes review of pork dishes from Kansas restaurants, cooking tips and reader contests. • Oktoberfest. KPA staff attended the annual conference hosted by the National Pork Board. The event brings together state staff and executives to discuss retail promotions, producer education and other topics.
• Operation Main Street. OMS presentations facilitate conversations with consumers statewide about pork production, health and nutrition information and current technlologies in agriculture. In 2016, Kansas OMS speakers gave 64 presentations to agriculture and culinary classes, dietetic associations, vet techs and more. • Taste of Elegance. The KPA sponsored this annual event which brings together top chefs to prepare pork-inspired dishes. The event also serves as a way to say thank you to the Harvesters food bank donors and volunteers. • Youth and KSU Sponsorship. Events supported by KPA in 2016 include Swine Profitability Conference, junior swine programs, Bob Hines Swine Classic, Swine Day, Kansas 4-H, Kansas FFA, county ag days and the PQA Plus Advisor Training Program.
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• From the Land of Kansas. KPA was a presenter at the FTLOK Annual Conference (at left). The session was entitled “Tips and Tricks to Maximizing Your Social Media Exposure.” • Kansas Meat Processors Association. KPA sponsored the Most Innovative Pork Product award at the KMPA’s annual convention. • Kansas Foundation for Ag in the Classroom. KPA hosted a breakout session at KFAC’s one-day summer conference. KPA continues to collaborate with KFAC on a number of projects.
• Kansas Farm Food Connection. KPA is one of eight ag organization that make up the KFFC, which in 2016 launched an updated consumer-focused website to help establish conversations about food and farming. Information includes recipes and cooking tips, and also answers questions about antibiotics, GMOs and more.
• Kansas ProStart Invitational. KPA supported the annual invitational as both an event sponsor and a management judge. The event is a premier high school competition focused on restaurant management and culinary arts. • Kansas Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The KPA sponsored the closing keynote speaker, Leah McGrath, RD, at KSAND’s annual conference. KPA also had a booth at the conference with nutritional information about pork, as well as information on the Real Pig Farming and Farm Food Tours.
KNC Restaurant Crawl. The Kansas Pork Association sponsored a restaurant crawl that brought together nutrition professionals, chefs and farmers to talk about food and farming. The event preceded the Kansas Nutrition Council’s annual meeting, which gathers up to 150 Kansas professionals actively involved in nutrition education and health promotion. Their work takes place in colleges and universities, government agencies, cooperative extension, communications and public relations firms, the food industry, voluntary and service organizations and with other reliable places of nutrition and health education information.
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2016: Year in Review
• Senate Farm Visit. Seventeen staff members from the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture toured Springer Family Foods in May to gain a better understanding of modern pig farming practices. Michael Springer, part owner and operator, gave the group a history of his family’s farrow-to-finish farm, located in rural Sycamore. Started in the late 1940’s by his grandparents, Lee and Dorothy, the farm has grown to also raise wheat, corn and soybeans. Staffers toured the farrowing, nursery and finishing barns, and were able to ask questions on industry practices such as antibiotic use, gestation stalls and environmental regulations. • Legislative Reception. KPA board Representative Sharon Schwartz, former members held the annual reception to visit KPPC president and board member, was with legislators and discuss successes and recognized at KSU Swine Day for her challenges within the pork industry. contribution • Ag Chat. KPA staff attended AgChat’s global conference, Cultivate and Connect, in Kansas City.
to the swine industry throughout her career. Schwartz was first elected to the legislature in 1996 and during her tenure has served as the chair of agriculture, chair and vice chair of appropriations and chair of rules and regulations committees.
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• Farm Food Tour. This tour hosted a group of dietitians and bloggers in a continued effort to help consumers understand farming and agriculture. The three-day trip included stops at Merck Animal Health, Monsanto and a small processing facility, Central Missouri Meat and Sausage. Attendees were given surveys before and after the tour to determine how informed they were on the topics of antibiotics, hormones and GMOs. Favorable shifts were seen in the level of knowledge of attendees. Survey analysis showed that the tour created a higher level of confidence in today’s farming methods. The tour was a collaboration between the KPA, Kansas Soybean Commission, United Soybean Board and Kansas Farm Bureau.
• K-State Football Tailgate. The Pork Checkoff’s “We Care” trailer rolled into Manhattan in October for the annual Kansas Pork Tailgate, held before the KSU vs. Texas Tech match-up. Kansas pork farmers and friends handed out over 350 pounds of pork loin samples. • Education Symposium. KPA and Kansas Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom staff presented to Kansas State University education majors about the virtual field trip program, as well as the other educational materials available to teachers through KPA and KFAC.
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• Real Pig Farming Tour. The #RPF tour is continuing to make a positive impact on consumer attitudes about food and farming. This year’s #RPF tour hosted 11 dietitians and bloggers, and included stops at Fair Oaks Farm’s Pig Adventure and Rodibaugh Farms, both in Indiana. Pre- and post-tour surveys showed that concerns about raising animals indoors decreased, concerns about the humane treatment of farm animals decreased, while trust in America’s food system increased. Attendees also received a tour of the kitchen and rooftop garden at Harvest, a downtown Chicago Marriott restaurant, and visited with executive chef Myk Banas. The Kansas Soybean Commission partnered with KPA to host this tour. • Holiday Pork Promotion. KPA supported the efforts of the National Pork Board during a holiday pork promotion. NPB and Kroger offered a series of pork sales at Kroger stores across the nation. KPA suppported the effort with social media promotion and ad buys.
2016: Year in Review • South Steps Friday. KPA participated in Ag Day at the South Steps as part of the South Steps Fridays series. The event is held at the historic Kansas Statehouse in downtown Topeka and highlights different industries and groups each week, offering a variety of information booths and activities to learn more about the state–from travel and tourism to education, health and more. • Kansas Governor’s Summit on Agricultural Growth. KPA staff was among the nearly 400 leaders representing a variety of agricultural interests that came together for the conference hosted by the Kansas Department of Agriculture. The event helped identify challenges and opportunities within individual sectors of agriculture.
• Antibiotics Web Page. KPA set up kspork.org/antibiotics as a resource for producers to find information on complying with the new Veterinary Feed Directive. The page contains links to a find-a-vet tool, frequently asked questions, guide for youth swine exhibitors and more. The page also links to the National Pork Board’s antibiotic page.
Kansas State Fair. KPA staff set up a model pig barn as part of a display in the Livestock Birthing Center at the Kansas State Fair, and interacted with fans on Facebook and Instagram with live streaming videos and posts. A Snapchat filter was also created to encourage visitors at the Birthing Center to “snap” photos using the filter. The live streaming Facebook video was viewed over 11,000 times, and the Snapchat filter was viewed 12,596 times and used 396 times. KPA also did a “pork crawl” on Instagram highlighting a variety of pork dishes being sold at the fair, including bacon-wrapped pork chops, bacon-wrapped deep fried pickles, and maple bacon funnel cakes.
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• Online Reach. KPA leveraged the power of social media in 2016 to reach a variety of people with an assortment of topics, including recipe preparation and how to make better decision at the meat case. Using Facebook Live, KPA created weekly videos to help create a connection between consumers and farmers. KPA also used recorded footage to create “rapid recipe” videos, which are short clips giving the consumer a quick how-to of a recipe. The Pork Chop 101 video (seen below) featured KPA staff sharing the differences between New York, ribeye, porterhouse and sirloin chops, and tips for preparing them. The live video had an impressive unpaid reach of over 11,5000 people with over 4,000 views.
Connect with us at “KansasPork”
At a glance... • Over 75,300 total social
media followers • 80,000 avg. monthly reach
• Rooted In Conversation. KPA staff was invited to speak on a teleconference about how to shoot video on a budget by Monsanto. The teleconference is a part of their Rooted In Conversation continuing education for farmers from around the nation. During the call, KPA helped farmers in how to shoot, light and edit video to share the story of their farm.
To view KPA’s Facebook videos, visit www.facebook.com/KansasPork/videos Page 10
National Blogger Partnership. KPA joined forces with four high level bloggers from around the nation for a series of recipe videos to promote pork on social media. The four online influencers were tasked with creating, or live-streaming, five recipe-focused videos with the goal of increasing consumer awareness of how to cook pork in a way that results in a juicy, tender and flavorful eating experience. The total of 20 online videos were created between August and December and can be found on Facebook, Periscope, Youtube and their blogs (see at right). To date, the videos have a reach of over 500,000 and continue to grow daily. KPA received a grant from the Iowa Pork Producers Association for the project. “This program was a way for KPA to experiment with Facebook Live when the platform was initially launched,” said Tim Stroda, KPA Executive Director. “Today, we have exponentially grown our understanding, reach, and influence using Facebook Live due to this influencer outreach project.”
• Bloggers •
2016: Year in Review
$5 Dinners • Erin Chase Blog: www.5dollardinners.com www.facebook.com/5dinnersfans Mom Spark • Amy Bellgardt Blog: www.momspark.net www.facebook.com/MomSpark Four Hats & Frugal • Amiyrah Martin: Blog: www.4hatsandfrugal.com www.facebook.com/4hatsandfrugal Chef Alli • Alli Winter Blog: www.chefallis.com www.facebook.com/chefalli
• Virtual Field Trips. Over 1,000 students from 25 schools visited Kansas pig farms thanks to KPA’s new VFT program. Using Zoom, a live video conferencing technology, kids were taken inside a pig barn and had the opportunity to talk to a farmer in real time. In addition to the VFT, KPA sent supplemental educational materials to teachers to encourage additional learning beyond the 45-minute virtual session. Farmers who participated included Roy Henry, Longford; Michael and Christy Springer, Sycamore; and Kaden and Emily Roush, Lebanon. Other sponsors of the program included The Kansas Soybean Commission, The Pork Checkoff, Cargill and Kansas Foundation for Ag in the Classroom. Page 11
Questions, comments or concerns? Contact us at: Kansas Pork Association 2601 Farm Bureau Road Manhattan, KS 66502 785-776-0442 www.kspork.org
Working for You.