The Oklahoma Pork Council proudly took 22 eager college students on a two-day commercial swine production trip to Northwest Oklahoma recently. Our Oklahoma Pork staff, our faculty advisor Dr. Scott Carter, and ODAFF Deputy Commissioner JanLee Rowlett all enjoyed facilitating this eye-opening experience our Pork Industry Group students will never forget.

Thanks to thoughtful planning from Seaboard leadership, our 27 tour participants spent a full afternoon at Seaboard's sow farm near Forgan, Oklahoma. Throughout four stations focused on feeding, breeding, farrowing and reporting - the students received an up-close and unfiltered look at how the delicious pork on their dinner table truly comes into existence. From showering into the farm and talking through production numbers to holding piglets and seeing impressive modern barn technology - the comprehensive tour proved incredibly interesting and educational.

The following day, our fantastic Seaboard hosts loaded our group into three vans for in-depth windshield tours of the feed mill, truck wash station, processing plant and more to help the students better understand various elements of large-scale production. Our time in Guymon concluded with insightful presentations about Seaboard's global footprint beyond pork production and on leadership development at the company and beyond.

We refer to the experience as an "industry trip of a lifetime" when we recruit for Pork Industry Group, and after last week our students will forever have a deeper understanding of how pork is produced and a greater appreciation for the hard-working people who make it possible. A huge thanks to Seaboard Foods leadership of Noel Williams, Judy Zollinger, Dr. Brooke Kitting, Alex Weatherford, Matt Johnson, Nicole Vasquez, and the countless others who made this tour possible. Our team is grateful to serve an industry that prioritizes educating our next generation of agricultural leaders!