Iowa Pork Regional Conferences Set for February 21-24

Iowa Pork Regional Conferences Set for February 21-24

Posted on by Tina Hinz

The Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA) is inviting the state’s pig farmers to attend one of four Iowa Pork Regional Conferences being held in February. The events are being held at different locations from Feb. 21 through Feb. 24.

In addition to the regional conference program that runs from 1 to 5 p.m. each day, a separate morning session from 9 a.m. to noon will provide Pork Quality Assurance (PQA) Plus® training. The PQA Plus training is sponsored by IPPA and provided by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach (ISUEO).

There are four topics for the afternoon sessions on swine health, economic issues, marketing opportunities, and ISUEO resources for pig farmers. “The farmer members of our producer education committee partnered with the Iowa Pork Industry Center to select topics and identify relevant speakers,” says Jamee Eggers, IPPA producer education director.

The locations of the conferences are:

  • Monday, Feb. 21 – Orange City at the Sioux County Extension Office, 400 Central Ave. NW, Suite 700
  • Tuesday, Feb. 22 – Osceola at the Clarke County Fairgrounds Events Center, 2070 W. McLane St., Hwy. 34
  • Wednesday, Feb. 23 – Nashua at the Borlaug Learning Center, 3327 290th
  • Thursday, Feb. 24 –  Washington at the Washington County Extension Office, 2223 250th

Topics and speakers for the afternoon conferences are:

Joe Kerns
Lee Schulz
Chris Rademacher
  • Swine Health Update – Chris Rademacher of the Iowa Pork Industry Center will provide an update on current swine health issues, such as PRRS, E. Coli, African swine fever, vaccines and biosecurity
  • Don’t Confuse Shortage with Increased Scarcity – ISU Extension Livestock Economist Lee Schulz will review research about the pork supply chain during the COVID-19 impacts in 2020. The pork industry had some resiliency, but that didn’t show up across all regions of the country.
  • The Greatest Marketing Opportunity in the History of Agriculture is at Your Doorstep – Joe Kerns, Partners for Production Agriculture will review grain and livestock markets, layered over weather and trade situations that may offer opportunities to save on your feed budget and take advantage of greater pork demand.
  • Finding the Right Resources – Work on the Pig Survivability project has led to some economic decision tools that have been added to the toolbox that Iowa State University Extension Swine Specialists can provide for you to solve production problems and other issues on your pig farm.

Check-in starts 30 minutes before the start of the conference. Pre-register for the conference and/or PQA Plus certification training to ensure adequate materials are available to all. To pre-register: