Oklahoma's 2023 National Pork Industry Forum voting delegates included: Travis Vaughan, Cathy Vaughan, Jessica Ingo, Angie Johnson, Thomas Craig and Tom Layne. Delegates are pictured here in Orlando, Florida, with Kylee Deniz and Ashton Mese Johnston from the Oklahoma Pork Council.
The Oklahoma Pork Council's voting delegates have spent the last three days representing our state at the 2023 National Pork Industry Forum in Orlando, Florida. Pork Forum serves as the annual business meeting for members of the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and the National Pork Board (NPB).
Because Pork Forum includes business for both national organizations, each state has two sets of voting delegates - one set for Pork Checkoff-related business through the Pork Act and one set for public policy-related business through NPPC. This year's Oklahoma Pork Act delegates attending the event were Angie Johnson and Jessica Ingo. Our NPPC delegates for 2023 included Tom Layne, Cathy Vaughan, Travis Vaughan and Thomas Craig.
Encouraging enrollment in the United States Swine Health Improvement Plan (U.S. SHIP) and encouraging utilization of tools like AgView and Secure Pork Supply (SPS) plans were the main subjects of discussion for updating national policies. On the NPPC side, the delegate body also voted to amend the organization's bylaws to allow the NPPC immediate past president to the officer team.
Additionally, our six delegates also voted on a slate of candidates to national positions. From an Oklahoma perspective, the most exciting news is that Oklahoma Pork member Cathy Vaughan of Smithfield Foods was elected to the National Pork Board's Nominating Committee. In this role, Cathy will help evaluate candidates for the board and gain valuable insight for potential future service on the full board. We are so proud of Cathy for stepping into this national role on behalf of Oklahoma!