Larry D.

Monday, July 17, 2000

Larry D. Graham hopes there is less finger-pointing and blame-fixing in the pork industry today.

That was the goal of the Midwest Pork Conference held Wednesday through Friday at the Holiday Inn of Austin.

"The goal, I believe, is to recognize there’s a need for pork producers to understand the packers’ point of view," Graham said. "They need to better appreciate what it takes to run a business and how pork is marketed today."

What better place to hold such a communications bridge-building effort than SPAMTOWN USA, where Hormel Foods Corp. is based and has its flagship plant?

Answer: None and judging by the attendance, Graham’s idea was a success.

More than 100 producers participated. Individuals, husbands and wives, fathers and sons, brothers and all combinations of ownerships.

Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, North Dakota, Indiana and Missouri as well as Minnesota were represented among the producers, packers, other agri-businesses and lending institutions.

Graham is president of Graham Strategic Marketing Inc. and the former CEO of the National Pork Producers Council based at Des Moines, Iowa.

Purina Mills Inc. sponsored the conference in cooperation with Wells Fargo Bank, Farm Credit Services of America, Elanco Animal Health and Ag Star. Hormel Foods was the host.

Dr. Tim Loula, Swine Center St. Peter, opened the conference Wednesday. Loula shared production updates and told the producers how they can achieve world-class efficiency to compete in today’s market.

Joel Johnson, chairman of the board, president and CEO of Hormel Foods, welcomed conference attendees Thursday morning.

Then the Hormel Pork Marketing Institute was the focus of attention. Hormel Foods staff members walked the producers and others through the complex methods that must be used today to get pork from the farm to the consumer.

Kurt Mueller, Dr. Bruce Paterson, Ray Bjornson, Pat Schwab, Tom Day, Mark Morey and Gary Jamison of Hormel Foods took a hard look at how Hormel Foods views the relationship between pork sold at retail and foods service and procurement practices for live hogs.

Thursday afternoon’s agenda focused on two Iowa attorneys general, Steve Moline and Steve Reno. They explained how a new Iowa law prohibits packers from owning facilities for producing pork in Iowa and how it applies to the Smithfield/Murphy Farms merger.

Rod Smith, editor of FeedStuffs, has followed the structural changes in the pork industry closely. He told producers how the former Indiana farm boy-turned-farm-news-editor views the industry’s future.

Also Thursday afternoon, the producers learned how they can keep their farrowing unit in the top 20 percent of the industry from experts at Swine Management Services of Fremont, Neb.

The Friday schedule included sessions on e-commerce opportunities for producers, plus Glenn Grimes’ candid opinions.

The Midwest Pork Conference was a first-ever event of its kind and Graham liked what he saw and heard.

"The idea was to get people in the same room to talk to each other about problems of mutual concern," he said. "There are some of the best producers in the Midwest here and I would say the chemistry that is happening is very positive."

"Independent packers, like Hormel Foods, and independent producers have to work together and I hope this will foster that process," he said.

Graham admitted that when pork prices plummeted in late-1998 and continued their drop in early 1999, pork producers were devastated and immediately started pointing fingers of blame for their dilemma at meatpackers.

Thus, Graham’s conference could be seen as a watershed of understanding between both sides.

Graham said the industry needs "long-term players who are committed to pork production" and that typically today means large producers with the largest personal investment in the industry.

"I think the producers who are here today," Graham said Thursday, "are feeling positive about their future, but, like the packers, they are looking for a long-term relationship with the marketplace. They wan tot know how to they fit in? Hormel Foods wants to know the same thing."

To that extent, Graham said there is a history of "difficult relationships" between producers and packers that must be overcome and events such as the Midwest Pork Conference can help bridge that communications gap while, at the same time, improving the relationship with hard information exchanged by both sides.

Checkoff referendum

The final rules for the referendum to end the mandatory pork checkoff have been announced by the Agricultural Marketing Service of the USDA.

The Land Stewardship Project, one of the leading critics of the checkoff, expects the referendum to vote to end the mandatory checkoff.

"We’re excited that the rules are finally out and the dates for the referendum are set," said Paul Sobocinski, a hog farmer and LSP member.

"Producers have been working a long time for this vote and we’re ready to vote down the mandatory pork checkoff," Sobocinski said.

The LSP spokesman also is a member of the Campaign for Family Farms, which also has criticized the checkoff and urged its rejection.

The National Pork Producers Council endorses continuation of the checkoff and has been heavily criticized by LSP and Campaign for Family Farms for doing so at the expense of independent producers (i.e., smaller pork operations) and supporting the largest producers.

Larry Graham, the former NPPC CEO and now president of Graham Strategic Marketing Inc., cautioned against rejecting the checkoff.

"If the referendum on continuing the checkoff fails, small producers will be hurt the worst," he said. "Unlike the larger producers, they don’t have the access to information resources and to promotion and marketing tools that the larger producers have."

"If the checkoff fails, I predict there will be a new organization started by the biggest producers that will benefit only the biggest producers," Graham said. "The pork checkoff has done more good for more producers, large and small, than it has spent checkoff dollar in unnecessary areas."

"It’s good for the industry," he said.