National Pork Board

Yeah, that's a great question.

The article you're referring to was one we did as part of a project funded by the National Pork Board.

They were really interested in communicating more effectively about pork production methods and trying to get the public to understand some of the sustainability efforts and the animal welfare efforts that the industry undertakes because there's a lot of misconception out there.

And I do think that's something that the digital age ping has like really brought in right is this whole idea of pseudoscience misconception false information that is presented very similarly to scientific information you talked about ai and like typing in and getting your answer but you can't really always trust that answer full stop right we need to do some source checking and identifying source credibility Now, that being said, though, so we are in competition, right? But that being said, we can look at, more than ever before, what those that may not agree with us think and believe, because they are readily out there, right? If the scientific community, if the agricultural community chooses not to be present, there will be others that fill the space, right? Right.

Right.

But it's when you react that that elicits more and more and more and can get you into some serious trouble.

So I will admit, like I have had, especially working with the national pork board, which you mentioned earlier and being funded by them.

I've had some groups publish some not so nice stuff about my team and we just let it go.

I get to work with farmers every day, and then they let me do this one fun job.

And a lot of times we have folks from within our organization talk about what they do or interesting things that they may share but then on occasion we do get outside folks to come in and those are a lot of fun because they have a whole different perspective on stuff they're not within our organization and we generally learn a lot and today we have the honor of having David Newman who is the current CEO of National Pork Board And I'll stop talking right there and just turn it over to David, who's going to talk to us today about, I'm going to say demand, but that might confine the topic too much.

I'll just say David's going to talk about whatever David wants to talk

about.

So, one, thanks for the invite for joining here.

And I think we could just maybe say we'll talk about... whatever hits us as it relates to the pork industry today, right? The thing that really unites all of us when we think about what's going on.

So currently in the role of CEO at National Pork Board, been in that role one year next week, as a matter of fact.

Happy anniversary.

Well, welcome everyone.

Uh, my, uh, Bryce Hinchey here alongside a good friend of mine, uh, Clay Parrish from, uh, the National Pork Board.

Uh, today we wanna zoom out and think big picture.

Uh, I guess that's the goal i- in, eh, that we have in mind for this, uh, particular podcast, and how the show pig industry really fits into the picture of pork.

And, uh, you know, uh, Clay, uh, obviously took a new position there with the Na- National Pork Board, um, and is kind of the show pig representative, and we'll get into some of his duties and, uh, a little bit of, uh, what his job description is, uh, moving forward.

But that's kind of the big picture of it, and, uh, we like, we like to talk about a lot of winners, we like to talk a lot about genetics and show pigs, but what, what's the connection beyond that, Clay? And, uh, you know, excited to get into that.

Uh, Emily shot me a text there and said, "Hey, why don't we do one with, uh, Clay P., National Pork Board?" And I said, "Man, that one will be a lot of fun," because, uh, me and Clay talk a lot.

And, uh, but we're, we're really, really excited a- and to be honest with you, my, the most exciting thing, uh, about this is we have a section, uh, in this podcast called Extended Bidding, and, uh, it's really, really fun and it's at the end.

For sure.

And- and we, you know, through National Pork Board and- and National Pork Producers Council, we've just had lots of conversations about what we're, what we need to do.

Um, you know, you bring up increased protein demands, and I think that's right.

But with all the people on GLPs-

He has been here before and, uh, no, no need for introduction for, for Dr. Yeske.

And likewise Dr. Marisa Rotolo, uh, first time here in the show, but, uh, director of, of, uh, uh, uh, uh, swine health at the National Pork Board, and she's been, uh, all, all around the, the US with leadership here, uh, not only with the National Pork Board, but with AASV, US Ship, and some other organizations.

So super happy to have you both on the show.

And if you, if you put those two together and if you guessed, you guessed it right, we're going to talk about PED, right? Later, late- later in the show with, with these two, uh, in- individuals here, uh, driving a lot of efforts in PED nati- na- uh, nationally here in the US.

And then, uh, recently at the 2026 House of Delegates, the PED Monitored certification was also, uh, passed at that House of Delegates.

So now we'll have two certifications related to health status for PED, which will allow us to standardize how we communicate about the virus.

We've done a, a tremendous amount of work in the PED space, not only at National Pork Board and, and AASV, and I'm, [lip smack] I'm really excited to see, uh, how we can continue to build that role to get to that end goal of PED elimination.

And I think, Daniel, one of the things that's, uh, exciting about US Ship is, uh, it's a, it's a unique forum where, uh, producers come together, uh, veterinarians come together-

I'm Tara Donovan, your host, and today I have Dr. Brent Pepin as my guest.

Dr. Pepin is the Director of Swine Health at the National Pork Board.

Our show today is one of several episodes where we discuss the swine industry's strategic plan to improve the health of the U.S. swine herd.

Be sure to tune in to other episodes on the Swine It podcast show around this important topic.

Love being here.

Absolutely.

Tell us a little bit about your position at the National Pork Board.

Yeah, so I'm one of three swine health directors with the National Pork Board.

It's actually what set us up to do our work up in Fort Worth.

We got reached out by the National Pork Board, and they were interested in our position statement with the ISSN on tactical athlete nutrition.

They were looking to see, you know, basically protein's role in the military diet, essentially how it may serve in terms of performance and recovery if it was intertwined better with a MRE.

And so we had core cadets and ROTC folks from Texas A&M enroll in this study, and they would consume meals that were mirrored after MREs.

We didn't see like a direct performance change, but again, fairly acute study.

So we're kind of thinking maybe if we carry this out a little bit longer, there could be something there in that domain.

But it did set us up really nicely to continue that line of work with other tactical and occupational athletes, hence our firefighter studies, which are being supported by the National Pork Board and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

So we've been really fortunate to have that kind of support to do this work.

Producer priorities are at the heart of the National Pork Board's work.

Along those lines, the Pork Board recently established six producer-led advisory committees aligned with its strategic plan.

One of those committees is focused on We Care.