April 2009

Direct Line Keeping Our Members Informed kpa@kspork.org • www.kspork.org

Volume XXVIII

2601 Farm Bureau Road • Manhattan, KS 66502 • (785) 776-0442

2009 The Other White Meat Tour is Coming Soon!

Building on the success of the 2008 The Other White Meat® Tour, the Pork Checkoff is hitting the road again in 2009. The 28-week tour will include several new cities and events, as well as retail visits across the country. A new addition to the 2009 tour includes partnerships with local food banks.

If your not familiar with The Other White Meat Tour, it is a trailer that travels across the country through the traditional grilling season of May through September, stopping at high-traffic consumer events that reach a large percentage of the Checkoff’s target audience, females who are 25-49 years old with kids in the home and who want to be better cooks.

The trailer is manned by a combination of National Pork Board staff, volunteer pork producers and temporary staff. The goal of the tour is to educate consumers on proper cooking methods for pork and responsible pork production.

Join in the fun!

Volunteers will be needed to assist in cooking, handing out pork loin samples and handing out recipes or promotional material on May 8-10 at the Wichita Riverfest. The Kansas Pork Association and the National Pork Board will work together to reimburse volunteers for hotel and mileage when a they sign up to work for 2 shifts during the Other White Meat Tour.

If you are interested in volunteering with the tour on May 8-10 at the Wichita Riverfest, contact the office!

Event Dates and Shifts for Sign Up are as follows: Friday, May 8th, 5pm-9:30pm Saturday, May 9th Shift 1, 10am-3pm Sunday, May 10th Shift 1, 11am -4pm Saturday, May 9th Shift 2, 3pm-9pm Sunday, May 10th Shift 2, 4pm-9pm

April 2009

NPPC Approves Resolutions On Important Issues At its annual business meeting, the National Pork Industry Forum held March 5-7 in Dallas, the National Pork Producers Council adopted a number of resolutions, including ones that call for: · The federal government to “transition” to a counter-cyclical payment system that provides ethanol producers a safety net during severe economic times. · Opposition to giving incentives for cellulosic ethanol production from cornethanol co-products and to any increase in existing federal or state mandates on corn-based ethanol usage. · Opposition to increasing the percentage of ethanol that must be blended with gasoline from its current 10 percent rate. · Opposition to efforts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from farms. · Evaluating the economic, policy and regulatory impact on the U.S. pork industry of so-called global warming. · Improvements in unloading procedures for pigs at packing plants. · USDA to publish weekly pork export data. · Increasing USDA’s Farm Service Agency loan guarantee levels to $5 million from just under $1 million. · NPPC to give input and provide direction to USDA to ensure that the rules for the Country-of-Origin Labeling law and its implementation do not cause harm to the pork industry. · All pork producers to participate in the U.S. pork industry’s Pork Quality Assurance-Plus program · Pork processors to encourage animal transporters to become certified under the Transport Quality Assurance program.

USDA Agrees To Help U.S. Pork Producers

2009 KSU Jr Swine Producer Day

U.S. Pork Producers, along with the National Pork Producers Council, commended U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack for his decision to lend assistance to U.S. pork producers.

USDA will make an additional purchase of up to $25 million of pork products, which will be donated to child nutrition and other domestic food-assistance programs.

(USDA annually buys pork for federal food programs.)

“The action by USDA to buy additional pork will benefit America’s pork producers, the U.S. economy and the people who rely on the government’s various food programs,” said NPPC President Don Butler. “We are extremely pleased with Secretary Vilsack’s decision to purchase more pork.”

NPPC asked Vilsack to take action to address a crisis that over the past 18 months has cost the pork industry more than $3 billion in equity. Due mostly to higher feed costs, producers since October 2007 have lost an average of $20 on each hog marketed.

This is the second time in less than a year that USDA has agreed to a supplemental pork purchase. Last April, at NPPC’s request, the agency agreed to a $50 million purchase of pork products derived from sows as a way to reduce the national herd and stabilize pork prices.

In its most recent request, NPPC also asked Vilsack to use USDA resources, including the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Program, to support pork exports, which in 2008 were at record levels and helped temper pork producers’ losses.

The 2009 Kansas Junior Swine Producer Day was held on March 21 in Weber Arena at the Kansas State University main campus. Over 300 youth registered and attended the event.

“The day is for more than youth of all ages. Parents, swine project leaders and other adults attend to increase their knowledge and abilities,” said Joel DeRouchey, livestock specialist with K-State Research and Extension.

“This educational event is hands-on and highly interactive.

We’re hoping to stimulate enthusiasm, as well as provide a foundation in the management and care of youth swine projects,” DeRouchey said.

Getting students involved and thinking is one of the major focus’ for the Swine Skill-a-thon which was designed

by K-State Youth Livestock Intern, Kayla Clawson and Extension Youth Coordinator Sharon Breiner.

“It was a great day, a lot of fun with great involvement from our kids and families,” said Breiner,“the kids also really enjoyed the visit from Willie the Wildcat.”

Skill-a-thon winners include: Juniors- 1st- Austin McNorton, 49; 2nd- Lane Mai, 46; 3rd- Kately Bohnenblust, 45; 4rth-Matthew Henry, 45; 5th- Gatlin Clawson, 44 Seniors- 1st- Ethan Frantz, 78; 2nd- Wade Davis, 74; 3rdAmanda Bekemeyer, 68; 4rth- Tina Voelker, 67; 4rth- Tyler Tebow, 67.

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