Good Week of Learning and Eating in Iowa

Thankfully with improved industry conditions since last summer, more than 10,000 pork producers and supporters convened this week in Des Moines, Iowa, to share information and delicious food while checking out the latest technology and production trends. Each June, Expo serves as a great chance for Oklahoma Pork's staff and our members to learn from industry experts and connect with strong partners like our allied industry sponsors, national organization colleagues and more.

One highlight of Expo for the Oklahoma Pork crew included getting to road trip to Des Moines with our two outstanding summer interns during their very first week on the job. After a day of onboarding at our Oklahoma City office Monday, Presley Pullen and Gus Ward got to really bond with the team and board member Dr. Scott Carter during the 8-hour trek north.

The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) promotion of "education, innovation and networking" remains accurate for the experiences our team enjoyed over the past few days. Our Oklahoma Pork crew learned more about Foreign Animal Disease (FAD) prevention efforts, pork priorities - like a Proposition 12 fix - in the upcoming Farm Bill, and the importance of pork's nutritional value in our messaging to consumers. Our own Kylee Deniz moderated a panel about building public trust in the industry, and our digital content creator Shay Stegmann beautifully captured it all as she took fantastic photos during her first-ever World Pork Expo experience. Matti Carlile celebrated her two-year anniversary working full-time at Oklahoma Pork by leading our group throughout the Iowa State Fairgrounds, and we all remain grateful for her constant support this week in Iowa and every week at home!

Thank you to our production companies who participated in WPX in any way, and thank you to the allied industry partners who helped make the week a worthwhile experience.

Oklahoma Pork and Oklahoma Blood Institute Partner for Successful Blood Drive

At the start of every summer, our board and staff are proud to host the Oklahoma Pork Council Pre-Memorial Day Blood Drive in partnership with the Oklahoma Blood Institute (OBI) across the state. This annual event has long served as one of OBI's most successful drives of the year, which helps meet an increased need for the holiday weekend and beyond.

Throughout all 10 participating locations over the past two days, donors received a free pulled pork sandwich, a free bacon themed t-shirt, and free admission to Frontier City or Hurricane Harbor this summer. Although we don't have a final donor tally yet, we are confident hundreds of Oklahomans stepped up to give. One bright spot included surpassing our community goal for the Hinton pop-up mobile giving center with 19 total participants on Thursday. Stay tuned for donation totals for the entire statewide drive promoting pork in the days to come.

Thank you to our generous members and community supporters who took time to give blood this week! As we go into the busy Memorial Day weekend, there is no doubt your selfless donations will help Oklahomans in need.

Sharing Farm Bill Priorities with the U.S. Senate

At Oklahoma City's Heritage Place Sale Barn, more than 50 Oklahoma agriculture advocates came together to discuss Farm Bill priorities within our state. Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture Blayne Arthur facilitated comments from the audience and dialogue with Senator James Lankford and Senator John Boozman.

Representatives from the pork industry participated in a Farm Bill roundtable with Oklahoma's senior senator James Lankford and the Senate Agriculture Committee's ranking member John Boozman of Arkansas. This event was similar to the Farm Bill listening session hosted by Congressman Lucas at the same venue last fall, but Friday's meeting focused on the anticipated Senate version of the bill and what Senators Lankford and Boozman can do to support Oklahoma agriculture priorities throughout upcoming negotiations.

With the 2018 Farm Bill expiration extended to September 2024, the roundtable served as a helpful avenue for Oklahoma agriculturists to share what programs are most important to our state in the upcoming $400+ billion omnibus bill. On behalf of our state's pork producers, Oklahoma Pork's Kylee Deniz provided robust comments on herd health programs for U.S. livestock, Foreign Animal Disease (FAD) preparedness, and the need for a federal solution to California's Proposition 12.

Pig farmers were well represented at Friday's meeting, including board members Joe Locke and Rich Robinson, student pork advocates Molly Buckmaster, Cooper Kline, and Will Jasper, and Oklahoma Pork's staff.

Team Pork Well Represented during the Honorary State FFA Degree Ceremony

Seth Kline, Braeton Kimble, Todd Kennedy, Kylee Deniz and Tammy Kline were awarded 2024 Oklahoma FFA Honorary State FFA Degrees during the Oklahoma FFA Convention's third general session.

Last week at the 98th Oklahoma State FFA Convention held in Tulsa, 74 agricultural industry leaders received a 2024 Honorary State FFA Degree. Recipients of the prestigious Honorary State FFA Degree are educators, industry leaders, community members, farmers and ranchers, or government officials who show strong commitment to advancing agricultural education and youth leadership development. 

This year, several team pork individuals were recognized for their dedication to the Oklahoma FFA organization including Seth Kline, Braeton Kimble, Todd Kennedy, Tammy Kline and our very own Kylee Deniz. Each of these team pork recipients highlight the diverse talents and contributions that drive ongoing success for the next generation of agricultural leaders. We could not be prouder of these 5 and the others who received the 2024 Honorary State FFA Degree. Click here to see the Honorary State FFA Degree recipient listing. 

“Being granted the Honorary State FFA Degree is a profound privilege, and I am grateful to the Oklahoma FFA for this recognition and the recognition of several influential leaders in Oklahoma's pork industry. FFA holds a special place in my heart, and I am committed to continuing pork's support for the organization and its members across our state,” Kylee shared.  

Engaging with Our Future Workforce at the State's Largest Youth Gathering

This week, the Oklahoma Pork Council team had the privilege of participating in the 2024 Oklahoma FFA Convention. With over 10,000 FFA students in attendance, this annual experience offers a valuable opportunity for Oklahoma Pork to engage with young minds. 

At the convention, our team had a tradeshow booth with a focus on showcasing the diverse career opportunities within the pork industry. We were thrilled to debut an 11-question career quiz developed by past Pork Industry Group participant Madalyn Friend and her group, which was presented as their final project to the Oklahoma Pork board last fall. The "Pork Professional Test" received an overwhelming response with over 525 submissions from students eager to explore their potential in the pork industry. Take a moment to complete the career quiz for yourself!

Oklahoma Pork also led one of the six Career Success Workshops, which was attended by over 100 students. Oklahoma Pork's Executive Director Kylee Deniz had an engaging session discussing the various pathways available within the pork industry. We also distributed "merch" including sunglasses, fanny packs, Eat Pork license plates, socks and backpacks.

Plus, we are thrilled to congratulate show pig producer and Oklahoma Pork high school senior mentee Cooper Kline on securing a notable role on the 2024-2025 Oklahoma FFA State Officer Team. We are excited to see him excel in this leadership role!

“Pork Professional Test” Debuting at Oklahoma FFA Convention

The 2024 Oklahoma FFA Convention is this week in Tulsa, where the 10,000 FFA members in attendance will be able to find their pathway in pork. Our team can’t wait to continue our youth outreach efforts to students across the state with actionable next steps to “Work in Pork.”

Last fall, Madalyn Friend and her Pork Industry Group team members created the "Pork Professional Test" as a part of their final presentation. The purpose of the Pork Industry Group final presentation was to present workforce ideas to the Oklahoma Pork Council Board of Directors. Madalyn's group shared that they wanted their idea to be different and creative. The group’s idea stemmed from personality quizzes members previously took through their college courses. Madalyn shared that she knew just enough about coding to potentially create a pork career quiz. From there, group members started brainstorming the different sectors of the pork industry to include, what platform the quiz should be created with, and fine-tuning the questions.

“It has been a really rewarding opportunity to create something like this. It is awesome knowing that I can potentially impact the next generation and show them the pathway to some really cool career options within an industry I am so passionate about,” Madalyn shared.

The "Pork Professional Test" will be available for all FFA members to take at Oklahoma Pork’s FFA Convention tradeshow booth #801-803 on Tuesday and Wednesday during the tradeshow hours. Plus, we will be talking pork industry careers during Oklahoma Pork's Career Success Workshop titled "Pathways in the Pork Industry" on Tuesday, May 7th at 4 p.m. in Conference Hall C-D.

Supporting Communities after Saturday Night's Tornado Outbreak

In the wake of the recent tornado outbreak that struck the eastern side of our state, the Oklahoma Pork Council board and staff along with local pig farmers mobilized swiftly to aid affected communities. Below is a summary of our storm response efforts.

Marietta: Oklahoma Pork President-Elect Joe Locke fired up the Oklahoma Pork smoker to prepare and serve pork meals for his hometown of Marietta. Starting on Sunday at noon, Joe cooked tirelessly into Monday providing much-needed warm meals to residents following the Marietta tornado. Click here for Governor Stitt, Senator Lankford and FEMA's look at the Marietta tornado damage.

Holdenville: Oklahoma Pork Council Board of Directors Rich Robinson and Angie Johnson collaborated on a free pork lunch for the Holdenville community on Monday. Some pig farms in the Holdenville area experienced structural damage from the tornado. Click here to watch New 6's coverage titled "You Rebuild and You Stay": Holdenville Community Rallies After Tornado Hits.

Sulphur: Recognizing Sulphur as one of the hardest-hit communities in the state, Oklahoma Pork collaborated with Operation BBQ Relief to provide a free pork lunch on Tuesday. But, we did not stop there. Understanding the ongoing need, Oklahoma Pork arranged for additional support by securing a refrigerated truck from the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma to stay in Sulphur for the week, and specifically routed a Ben E. Keith truck to the Sulphur Walmart parking lot with 10 cases of pork loins and 10 cases of pork butts resulting in thousands of additional pork meals being prepared by Operation BBQ Relief for the Sulphur community starting with dinner on Tuesday night through Friday. Oklahoma Pork's Shay Stegmann captured photos of the Sulphur tornado damage and has uploaded them to Oklahoma's new digital asset platform for you to see the heartbreaking tornado damage here.

 A sincere thank you to Oklahoma Pork's board and staff team for swift action and commitment to helping those in need. We continue to extend our thoughts and prayers to all impacted by the storms. If you know someone in need, please encourage them to fill out our request for support form so we can connect them with the appropriate resources.

Prairie Fresh Pork, Made in Oklahoma and Oklahoma Pork Collaborate on a Retail Activation

On Thursday, the Oklahoma Pork Council and Made in Oklahoma (MIO) sponsored our third shopper sweepstakes and free pork lunch event but this time at Uptown Grocery in Edmond. Starting at 11 a.m., Uptown Grocery shoppers were served a free Prairie Fresh pulled pork sandwich with Head Country BBQ sauce. The pulled pork sandwiches were so popular that we served 400 of them in just one hour.

The collaboration at Uptown Grocery was also successful with over 1,650 entries into the MIO shopper sweepstakes. The lucky shopper sweepstakes winner, Sierra Jackson, had the opportunity to shop for seven minutes and fill her cart with as many MIO products as possible. As a proud supporter of the Prairie Fresh brand produced by Seaboard Foods, Oklahoma Pork was thrilled to see Sierra head straight to the meat case to stock up on Prairie Fresh pork.

The MIO Coalition is a group of more than 100 food and beverage companies that work to raise awareness for products made in Oklahoma and increase consumer loyalty to the products made in the state. Oklahoma Pork is intentionally and unapologetically inserting pork into consumer purchasing consideration through this and past MIO collaborations.

"It's a pleasure to collaborate with the Oklahoma Pork Council as they are a great associate member of ours. It is important to shine a light on pork and all the great pork-producing companies here in the state of Oklahoma that work together on retail initiatives benefiting our partners and their partners," shared Emily Shuping, MIO Executive Director.

Our Gratitude on Administrative Professionals Day

Krista Carroll, pictured above and legislative assistant to Rep. John Pfeiffer, loved her maple bacon whoopie pie.

Administrative Professionals Day is a time to celebrate the invaluable contributions of office professionals, and the Oklahoma Pork Council seized this opportunity to show our gratitude in a unique and delicious manner. For years, our team has been delighting legislative staff at the State Capitol with pork-centric treats as a token of our appreciation for their hard work.

This year, we explored various bacon treats and landed on a mouthwatering maple bacon whoopie pie from Pie Junkie, a beloved small business in Oklahoma City's Plaza District. Our collaboration with Pie Junkie was a perfect match, and these delectable maple bacon whoopie pies are available for purchase on some Fridays from their store.

Our team, along with our contract lobbyist, James McSpadden, surprised each legislative staff member floor by floor with these delightful treats. The response was overwhelming with many expressing how much our gesture meant to them.

Pathways in the Pork Industry at the Oklahoma FFA Convention

More than 10,000 Oklahoma FFA members will travel to Tulsa from across the state next month for the 2024 Oklahoma FFA Convention. The Oklahoma Pork Council team is eagerly preparing for memorable pork experiences throughout the May 7-8 event.

On the tradeshow floor, the Oklahoma Pork booth will be our hub for sharing our popular "Work in Pork" message, which highlights the endless career opportunities in the Oklahoma pork industry. Additionally, Oklahoma Pork has been invited to present at one of the six Career Success Workshops. Our workshop titled "Pathways in the Pork Industry" will take place in Conference Hall C-D on Tuesday, May 7 at 4 p.m. We are thrilled to have this unique Career Success Workshop platform to recruit our future workforce!

Our team is excited to reconnect with passionate students we have met throughout the years and ready to encourage many more next-generation agricultural leaders to lean into pork industry opportunities. We ask you to encourage FFA members in your community attending the 2024 Oklahoma FFA Convention to stop the Oklahoma Pork tradeshow booth #801-803 and attend our May 7 workshop!