Foreign market development is essential to the future of the pork industry and Iowa leaders were busy this spring traveling to Australia, New Zealand and Canada to enhance relations with those markets. The following is a summary of those trips.

IPPA visits Manitoba Pork Council
In early April, four IPPA representatives drove to Winnipeg to attend the Manitoba Pork Council's Annual Meeting. Earlier in the year, a Manitoba Pork Council delegation attended the Iowa Pork Congress and the IPPA Annual Meeting. The relationship between the two organizations is increasingly important as pork producers on each side of the U.S.-Canadian border establish business relations. The statistics below of the number of feeder pigs imported into Iowa from Canada over the past three years shows the depth of the Iowa and Canada relationship:

2005 - 2,768,928 pigs

2004 - 3,054,490 pigs

2003 - 2,610,388 pigs

Issues facing the pork producers in Manitoba are similar to those faced by Iowa pork producers. Resolutions passed dealt with enforcing the collections of the Manitoba Pork Council levies, lobbying to set the proposed implementation date for any Water Quality Management Zones for Nutrients (WQMZN) or phosphorus regulations no sooner than November 2018 and require a detailed scientific/economic study, encouraging grain researchers to develop high-yielding wheat varieties, taking a proactive role to educate the public on the benefit of gestation stalls to the pig's welfare and the industry, and lobbying for the implementation of a feed wheat classification.

In addition to the consideration of proposed resolutions, the delegates heard from several speakers. Two of the speakers were from the U.S. Dr. Wes Jamison, associate professor of agriculture at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, addressed new perspectives with the animal rights and animal welfare movements. Dr. Jamison suggested that livestock producers need to provide a moral rationale that allows people permission to both love animals and to eat them as food. He stressed that moral issues now outweigh those of science and economics.

Dr. John Deen, associate professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Minnesota, discussed "Pigs Without Borders." He indicated that American and Canadian pork producers would benefit from improved cooperation in dealing with disease preparedness, trade issues, and competing for global market share. Dr. Deen speculated that a more integrated North American market would see pork producers from both Canada and the U.S. gain market share through cooperation.

The IPPA producer leaders who traveled to Winnipeg for the meeting were Susan Carlson from Red Oak, Shaun Greiner from Washington and Bryan Karwal from Elliott. Rich Degner, IPPA executive director, also participated.

The Manitoba Pork Council meeting provided the IPPA leaders with a good opportunity to visit with several pork producers from various provinces in Canada. Bryan Karwal gave a short presentation on the pork industry in Iowa. IPPA also teamed up with Minnesota Pork Producers Association leaders to meet with representatives from the Manitoba Pork Council for additional discussions.

IPPA participates in USMEF mission to Australia and New Zealand
IPPA President Gene Ver Steeg, a pork producer from Inwood, and Rich Degner, IPPA's executive director, teamed up with eight others interested in U.S. pork exports on a mission to Australia and New Zealand in early May. The trip was organized by the United States Meat Export Federation (USMEF) to allow pork exporters and industry leaders to gain a better understanding of the "land down under" and to explore a newly developing U.S. pork import market.

The itinerary consisted primarily of visits to importers, processors and supermarkets. "The mission followed two trade teams from Australia and one from New Zealand that visited Iowa in the recent past looking for possible suppliers of pork to their companies," said Ver Steeg. The three trade teams from "down under" that visited Iowa were organized by USMEF.

The mission was scheduled around two other high profile meat industry activities: Brisbane's hosting of the 16th World Meat Congress and Singapore's prominent Food and Hotel Asia trade show.

According to data provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and compiled by USMEF, U.S. pork exports from January through April 2006 were 13 percent greater in quantity and 4 percent greater in value than one year ago. During that time period, Australia imported 8,965 metric tons of U.S. pork and New Zealand imported 2,485 metric tons of U.S. pork, which are both increases from the previous year.

In addition to USMEF, the other groups that participated in the mission represented two packing companies, a trading company, the Missouri Pork Association and the Iowa Department of Economic Development.

A look at Australia
Australia is the sixth largest country in the world in area and is only slightly smaller than the United States. It is the only country that occupies a complete continent. It also is the driest inhabited continent in the world. About one-third of the land is desert and another third is composed of poor-quality land.

Australia's population is only 19.4 million people and growing at approximately 1 percent annually. About 85 percent of the people live in urban areas, mostly coastal cities. Sydney is the largest city with about four million people. Nearly 35 percent of all Australians live in Sydney and Melbourne combined. Australia has a young population with about one-third of the people younger than age 20.

The delegation traveled to Brisbane and Sydney; and met with Swift & Company Trading Group, Hans Continental Smallgoods, and Primo Smallgoods. The group toured two processing plants, a cold storage facility, supermarkets, and specialty meat retail stores.

Australian food is an evolving blend of European and Asian. Prices of domestic pork in a supermarket were bacon at $2.92/lb., boneless pork loin chops at $7.36/lb., ground pork at $5.51/lb., center cut pork loin chops at $5.52/lb. and pork tenderloin at $9.93/lb. U.S. pork is primarily being used for making processed meat items, such as luncheon meats.

A look at New Zealand
New Zealand is an island nation that covers an area about the size of Colorado and lies about 1,000 miles southeast of Australia. There are two primary islands, the North Island and the South Island. The more populous North Island has fertile agricultural land. The South Island has mountains that provide magnificent scenery and winter sports. The climate is temperate with plenty of sunshine and rain with few weather extremes.

New Zealand has a small population of only 3.86 million people (Iowa has 2.9 million) and is growing annually at 1 percent. About 80 percent of the people are of European descent. About 13 percent of the people are Polynesians and live mainly on the North Island. Chinese and Indians now comprise about 2 percent of the population. Auckland and its suburbs hold one-fourth of the nation's people and is considered the nation's commercial and industrial center.

The delegation traveled to Auckland and visited Mainland Products - the largest meat plant in New Zealand - located at Hamilton, which is about two hours outside of Auckland. The group also toured supermarkets. Additionally, the delegation met with a U.S. government official and several importers and traders.

Beef, pork, roast lamb and fish are still common in the diet, but poultry is gaining popularity. New Zealanders believe their cheeses and ice cream are among the best in the world. The diet is becoming lighter and more diverse. Prices of domestic pork in a supermarket were ground pork at $3.71/lb., pork shoulder at $3.14/lb., pork loin chops at $4.28/lb. and pork tenderloins at $6.57/lb. Just as in Australia, imported U.S. pork is primarily used for further processing.