Special Report

World Pork Expo features information and food

The 25th World Pork Expo opens Wednesday in Des Moines, Iowa. Randy Spronk, president of the National Pork Producers Council, expects a lot of people on the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

“We’ve had nearly 20,000 producers and industry enthusiasts come to Des Moines every year [to see] a wide variety of products that are displayed, a wide variety of seminars that producers can attend,” Spronk told Brownfield. “If all else fails, there are plenty of friendly faces and just interaction with other pork producers and industry personnel that it’s just enjoyable to interact with people who are involved in our industry.”

The expo is the largest pork specific trade in the world, and Spronk tells Brownfield it’s also a celebration of food.

“There’s nothing better than barbequed pork and it’s just great the enthusiastic response that we see, be it whole hog Thursday night among all the tents, to some of the barbeque competitions that occur and actually the displays, and so it’s just great to be able to sample barbequed ribs, be it pulled pork to bacon and eggs in the morning,” said Spronk.

In addition, Spronk pointed out seminars that go on throughout the World Pork Expo with education opportunities for producers about optimizing production, marketing and management. There are also legislative updates, nutrition information and discussions on the environment that effect pork production.

The World Pork Expo is Wednesday through Friday, June 5-7.

AUDIO: Randy Spronk (6 min. MP3)