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Green ham and eggsThe World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa was amazing this year. It wasn't that there was any new unveiling that was just tremendous, but the character of the United States farmer/rancher was evident. In a year that will not generate one dollar of profit for pork producers, attitudes were great. Producers are still seeking the newest and best way of converting natural resources into human consumable products. Without a doubt, 2008 will be one of the years when that age-old saying rings true: What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. Anyone who is still in the pig business for World Pork Expo 2009 will be in a tremendous position. One issue we must address is that we often talk about the efficiency of the U.S. farmer but we don't put it in layman's terms so that the non-farm person understands what we are talking about. Word spread pretty fast around the fairgrounds that there was a green pig at the show. Yes, a green pig. Not a genetically engineered green pig, but, rather, a pig right out of the Trent Loos playbook of making your point: a pig dyed green. Everett Forkner from Richards, Mo. and his 50-year-old Truline Genetics Company found a way to get the attention of the non-farm attendees that made it to Des Moines. He dyed a Yorkshire gilt green. The tactic worked as he lured in Jane Wells from CNBC who was on hand from Los Angeles. They broadcast a national story about the green pig at the World Pork Expo. Everett encouraged me to endorse the green movement. "For generations, American farmers and ranchers have implemented the best in environmental stewardship and animal care but we haven't explained it properly." He believes that today's food production in the U.S. is very "green" but those sentiments are not held by others around the world. I would add that it is high time we find a way to tell this story because, for the past year and a half, every airport conversation I've entered into includes concerns about the climate because of the impact from meat production. People have not refrained from eating meat because of it, but are beginning to feel guilty because they do eat meat. In an interview, Everett mentioned that we are more efficient with our natural resources than we have ever been. He indicated that in his lifetime in pork production the efficiency of producing a pound of pork has gone from 4 pounds of feed per pound of gain to just under 3 pounds of feed. Yes, that is a 25 percent improvement but, when we explain it in that manner, it doesn't mean a thing to the average soccer mom. So check this out. In the United States we produce 100 million pigs per year. Each pig gains an average of 250 pounds of body weight. For the sake of my cowboy arithmetic, I will round numbers to make my point. Thanks to confined animal feeding facilities, improved genetics and preventive health care systems, it now takes one pound less of feed to produce a pound of pork. That savings in feed is 250 pounds of feed per pig times 100 million pigs raised annually. And that equates to 450 million fewer bushels of corn each year to feed the same number of pigs. In the United States, we yield an average of roughly 150 bushels of corn per acre planted, which means the same number of efficient pigs are fed with 3 million fewer acres of land. Until now, I have been reluctant to endorse the "green" movement because it typically carries with it the concept that humans are solely to blame for global warming. I think Everett Forkner has proven that it is beneficial for us to endorse the green movement but if and only if we are each willing to dye our pig green to make a point. While we may not need to dye all of our pigs green, the above scenario explains to anyone how the efficiency of the United States' agricultural system is the best in the world. Wait! I think we may have just proven that the grass is greener on this side of the fence. But, if we don't close the gate before all of the food producers get out, it won't matter! Editor's note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.FacesOfAg.com, or e-mail Trent at trent@loostales.com 6/16/08 Date: 6/10/08
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