Farmscape for June 6, 2012   (Episode 4165)

The CEO of the U.S. based National Pork Producers Council is confident the future for North American pork production remains bright.

The 2012 edition of World Pork Expo, which kicks off today in Des Moines, Iowa is expected to attract nearly 20 thousand pork producers from 38 nations.

Neil Dierks, the CEO of the National Pork Producers Council, says all segments of the industry from genetic suppliers, to packers and processors, to retailers and exporters take part in various activities including the trade show, seminars and associated meetings to discuss a range of topics.

Clip-Neil Dierks-National Pork Producers Council:
There's a whole variety of issues and they range everywhere from issues related to production but there are also other issues.

For instance, on Thursday, we have a luncheon for what we call our investors in NPPC.

These are the producers that help fund NPPC and we have an individual professor from the University of Illinois will be talking about gestation stalls and talking about animal welfare in general.

We have the trustee who's handling the MF Global bankruptcy case on behalf of the creditors that will be here to discuss issues with producers and of course there are production issues that are discussed.

Our swine vet associations have meetings here so anything to do with either pork production or pork is pretty well covered in some way, shape or form.

I will tell you I'm very optimistic about the pork industry in the U.S. and North American for that matter.

I think there's tremendous opportunities.

As we take a look at the population growth in the world, we have a situation where it's not a question of whether people will increase the amount of meat they eat.

We have both the combination of more people in the world by 2050 and they will consume more protein, a very bright future for the pork industry.

Dierks notes over the 25 years the annual event has been held World Pork Expo has grown to become North America's largest pork specific gathering place and is probably the largest in the western hemisphere.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council