We Need to Foster Alignment Within All Segments of the U.S. Pork Industry

Having grown up showing and raising pigs, Jesse Heimer of Taylor, Mo., has a passion for helping people find opportunities in the pork industry. On the first episode of The PORK Podcast he joins host, Jennifer Shike, to share a little about his journey and the opportunities he sees for future generations to remain involved in raising pigs.

When Heimer graduated from college in 2003, he says no one in his close circle supported him staying in the swine industry. As a kid, he had a passion for raising and showing pigs, but was encouraged to exit as quickly as possible and find a different career.

So he did. He sold all his sows and left the industry for three years. But he returned in 2006. What brought him back?

“The simple answer is I missed pigs,” he says. “The production side of it — the actual pig farming if you will — is still the part that I'm really in love with on a daily basis.”

Beyond that Heimer is devoted to helping the next generation along the way.

“I saw the growth and the excitement around showing pigs,” he says. “There's no shortage of enthusiasm in people who want to show pigs, raise pigs and be involved in the show pig business. I saw an opportunity there to get back involved.”

In addition to raising pigs, Heimer has stepped into leadership roles and serves on the National Pork Board’s board of directors. He also went through the Pork Leadership Institute, which is a joint effort of National Pork Producers Council and the National Pork Board to cultivate leaders.

“It gave me an opportunity to see several different facets of our industry, both on the NPPC side, the policy side and the checkoff side, whether it's research, promotion or education,” he says.

Furthermore, a trip to Europe and an opportunity to learn about African swine fever (ASF) and its effects on pork production opened his eyes even wider to challenges the industry faces now. He says learning about ASF and spending time with other leaders in the swine industry helped him realize the show pig industry lacked representation.

“It was very obvious that if we, as show pig breeders, exhibitors, producers, whatever title you want to give us, wanted to be at the table for discussion about the U.S. pork industry — if we wanted to be part of that conversation as a whole — somebody had to get involved and step up and lean into that conversation,” he says.

Tune in to watch the conversation between Shike and Heimer as they discuss a variety of topics from fostering greater alignment within all segments of the pork industry to how conversations with consumers can help shape the demand for pork.