Earlier this month, Governor Stitt, Secretary of Agriculture Blayne Arthur, Commissioner of Health Col. Lance Frye, M.D., Senator Casey Murdock and Representative Kenton Patzkowsky traveled to Guymon, Oklahoma, for a tour of the Seaboard Foods processing facility.
“Any day we get some facetime with Oklahoma elected officials is a good day,” said Roy Lee Lindsey, okPORK executive director. “And we were excited to welcome Governor Kevin Stitt, members of his cabinet and other elected officials to the Seaboard Foods processing plant.”
Oklahoma pork producers take pride in the work they do each day to provide others with a healthy protein. Even during a pandemic, those involved in the pork industry worked countless hours to ensure pork is available for people’s plates.
“I greatly enjoyed my recent visit to Guymon to learn more about how Oklahomans have been able to continue producing food for the world despite challenging times,” said Gov. Stitt. “Sec. of Agriculture Blayne Arthur and I applaud the team at Seaboard, the members of the Oklahoma Pork Council and producers across Oklahoma for innovating to keep their employees safe while continuing to protect our food supply.”
“I was proud to tour Seaboard Foods alongside Gov. Stitt,” said Sec. of Agriculture, Blayne Arthur. “Learning more about the plant operations and their response to a recent COVID-19 outbreak proved they are not only equipped to continue production safely while keeping their employee health and safety a priority but also ensure the continuation of the food supply chain in our state.”
Seaboard Foods has worked very closely with okPORK since the start of COVID-19 in the United States. Oklahoma officials have worked right alongside okPORK to make sure the industry was responding in the best way possible.
“Oklahoma officials were essential as we worked through the challenges presented by COVID earlier this year and it was a tremendous opportunity to showcase how our industry is responding to COVID,” said Lindsey.
Having the opportunity to show the Oklahoma officials what the pork industry does, specifically at Seaboard Foods, every day is very important.
“Our industry owes a debt of gratitude to the Governor, the departments agriculture and health, and our elected officials for making the time to learn more about the great work our industry is doing to feed the world,” said Lindsey.
From left to right – Kay Stinson (SBF VP Human Resources and Animal Care); Roy Lee Lindsey (okPORK Executive Director); Col. Lance Frye, MD (OK Commissioner of Health); Brent Kisling (Exec. Dir. OK Dept. of Commerce); State Representative Kenton Patzkowsky; Brian Bingman (Governor’s Policy Advisor); Governor Kevin Stitt; Blayne Arthur (OK Sec. of Agriculture); State Senator Casey Murdock; Rick Sappington (SBF Plant Manager); Stephen Summerlin (SBF VP of Operations)