Insights from World Pork Expo 2025

The pork industry suffered one of the worst economic years on record in 2023. As producers now grapple with the uncertainty of tariffs, Agri-Pulse Newsmakers spoke with Kevin Stuckey, sow unit manager at Cooper Farms in Ohio; Chris Ford, VP corporate swine lender at Farm Credit Services of America; and Oklahoma Pork Council Executive Director Kylee Deniz to get a pulse on the animal health, labor, and economic challenges facing the industry.

Plus, National Pork Producers Council CEO Bryan Humphreys discussed the budget reconciliation bill and the lack of producer input in the Make America Healthy Again Commission report.

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Please note: This transcript has not been edited. 

Lydia Johnson: Welcome to “Agri-Pulse Newsmakers,” where we aim to take you to the heart of ag policy. I’m your host, Lydia Johnson. We’re bringing you a special edition of the show this week from the World Pork Expo.

Over 10,000 producers and industry leaders gathered in Des Moines, Iowa, for educational sessions, business meetings, and to explore the latest technology advancing the pork industry. Students also discussed top industry issues in the Young Pork Advocates Issues Meet competition. Plus, there was no shortage of pork to enjoy. Over 10,000 meals were served from the big grill alone.

During this episode, we’ll hear perspectives from the farm gate and the boardroom about the biggest topics at World Pork Expo, including how producers are making decisions amid tariffs, Proposition 12, and the state of the pork economy.

Bryan Humphreys, CEO of the National Pork Producers Council

Lydia Johnson: First, the House passed its reconciliation bill last month, which included many farm bill elements. We asked Bryan Humphreys, the CEO of the National Pork Producers Council, about the pork priorities included in the bill.

Bryan Humphreys: The House version passed things around our three-legged animal health stool as we work to prevent and prepare for foreign animal diseases were all included in it. Very appreciative of that. Also, fortunate as we’ve had conversations with House members on the need for foreign market development dollars to be included as we work to promote U.S. pork products in our export countries. Those dollars were included. Incredibly appreciative of that. And then not just for the pork industry, but for all of agriculture, the tax package that was included, that included things on 179 deductions and bonus depreciation, estate taxes, all those pieces included benefit all of agriculture, certainly the U.S. pork industry specifically. And so some tremendous opportunities there for the U.S. pork industry.

Lydia Johnson: And Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that he’s hoping to push that through his chamber by July 4th. What changes do you anticipate in the Senate?

Bryan Humphreys: From our request around foreign animal disease and foreign market development and protection of rural America and American agriculture on the tax package, we don’t anticipate any changes. Those are all things that should easily, Senators may have questions about, but we can certainly address the need and the value for rural America and American agriculture and the American consumer in each of those. So I’ll certainly open the conversation. Don’t anticipate any changes there.

Lydia Johnson: One farm bill component that was left out of this quote, unquote, reconciliation farm bill is a legislative solution to Proposition 12. You know, what legislative avenue are you looking at to pursue that in the future?

Bryan Humphreys: Absolutely, and while we have to acknowledge that while in the budget reconciliation bill, a number of quote, unquote, farm bill programs were included, they weren’t all included. And that leaves a number of things out there. And to your point specifically about Proposition 12 still needs to be addressed. And whether it’s a skinny farm bill or some other vehicle, we have to have a solution to that, not just as the American Pork Producers, but as American agriculture. This idea of states regulating outside their border is not going to stop. And at the end of the day, this is a state’s rights issue. The state of California should not be able to tell producers in Texas or in Pennsylvania or in Iowa how to raise their livestock or produce food. If those states wants to do it, no problem. But regulating outside your borders is still Congress’s authority. And so we expect a solution coming quickly to that.

Lydia Johnson: The Make America Healthy Again Commission recently released a report that criticizes some modern agriculture practices. I wanna get your thoughts on the report and, you know, what producer input was utilized to develop that?

Bryan Humphreys: Yeah, first, I’m not aware of any producer input that was utilized to develop that, and I think that should be a concern for all of us as we talk about one of the most robust, healthy, safe, and affordable food supplies in the entire world is the U.S. food supply, and that was brought to you by American agriculture. And so to not be included in any discussion around the food supply should certainly raise some questions and some concerns for folks out there. The underlying premise of Make America Healthy, everybody agrees with that. We don’t disagree with that. It’s how we get there and what does that look like. We certainly wanna be at the table to help with that conversation. There’s been some positive parts in there. We have to acknowledge that for generations pork producers and livestock folks have been talking about the value of meat as part of a healthy diet. And this report certainly alludes to that and brings some of those pieces in as a nutrient-dense protein. Certainly some value there. But the questioning of the scientific validity of the overall food system certainly raises some concerns for me.

Lydia Johnson: And as we transition a little bit to trade, China is the top, one of the top importing pork countries around the globe. How have the tariffs and uncertainty around international trade impacted U.S. producers so far?

Bryan Humphreys: We answer that questions in the markets. We have seen an up and down in the futures market this entire year that has created some real uncertainty for our industry. But as we move forward, there’s certainly tremendous opportunity in the Chinese market. But also as this administration looks to diversify where our exports are and where the opportunities are, we look forward to continuing the conversation with them around places like Vietnam and other countries that create a potential opportunity for us out there.

Kevin Stuckey, Cooper Farms Sow Division Manager

Lydia Johnson: Kevin Stuckey is the sow division manager for Cooper Farms in Ohio. After a few challenging years in the industry, we asked him if farm country is beginning to see some relief.

Kevin Stuckey: I think there’s definitely some optimism with what we’ve seen here recently, you know, in the markets and, you know? When everything with the tariffs and all that started, it was scary. ‘Cause like you said, it’s been a rough few years, but I think we’re finally starting to see the benefit of that. And there’s definitely some optimism growing.

Lydia Johnson: And export markets account for a pretty significant share of US pork demand. You know, how are the threat of tariffs and that uncertainty impacting the decision-making, you know, back to the farm level?

Kevin Stuckey: Well, you know, on the day-to-day basis, I feel like, you know, with our company, Cooper Farms, you know, Jim and Gary and their sister Diane, they do a great job of probably shouldering that burden of the tariffs day-to-day so that we can really focus on our employees and our animals and taking care of them. But you know, it’s on everybody’s mind. There’s no question, because like you said, we rely heavily on the exports. And you know, I think 28% of what we produce is exported. So you know, if we wanna have the long-range success and keep doing what we’re doing, we gotta have those exports there. So it’s been concerning, but definitely, I think starting to go the right way for us.

Lydia Johnson: In addition to that, input costs like feed, fuel, and labor have been volatile. What do you see as the biggest challenges to pork production right now? I mean, what’s the hardest thing or the biggest challenge for you to continue raising hogs?

Kevin Stuckey: Yeah, I think, you know, as I mentioned a little while ago, the health, animal health, herd health. That’s paramount. You know, when you have good markets and good production, everything’s really great. You know, like for the last few years when the markets haven’t been as good, and you don’t have good production, and you don’t have good health, that’s when things get really, really critical for us. So you know, just being able to maintain healthy animals, safe farms, you know, the biosecurity, even the struggles we’ve had with the employees. Then you know, last year with the TN visa situation, you know, MPPC really came through for us. We got our visa workers coming in again. The labor situation can be tough at times. And you know thank goodness, you know, we had those people working for us to get that issue straightened out.

Lydia Johnson: You kinda began touching on labor, but you know, Congress has yet to make progress on ag labor reform. You know, how is that affecting your farm and affecting, you know, producers at the farm level?

Kevin Stuckey: Yeah, so a year ago right now was when it was really getting tough for us. You know, we had lost our flow of the TN visa workers, and you know, Brian and the staff at MPPC, I think they work tirelessly and actually, you know, got people out to the farm level so they could really see what was going on and were really able to change that for us. Because it was getting to, you know, a very tough, critical level. It’s hard to get people, you know, the local people to come in for these jobs anymore. And our TN workers have been fabulous. It’s a great part of our company, and thank goodness we’ve got that going again.

Lydia Johnson: And you began to mention animal health, but the threat of foreign animal disease is, you know, always kind of lurking in the background. What diseases specifically are you monitoring right now, and how are your producers, your state’s producers staying prepared?

Kevin Stuckey: Yeah, so you know, PRRS is at the top of our list. And you know, PED’s right there behind it. It’s been a tough year, I think, you know, nationally, statewide for both of those. And you know, within our own company, we have poultry also, so we have definitely felt the effects of, you know, the bird flu and the high-path AI. And looking at what they’ve learned from that on the poultry side, I think that we as producers, as pork producers, should, you know, be taking note of that. And, you know, we’ve done preparatory stuff for African swine fever. You know, that’s one of the big ones. But I really think we have a lot to learn from what they’ve gone through on the poultry side and how they’ve reacted to the high-path AI. And we need to work as producers to, you know, model some of that. Let’s get going on that now with PRRS and not wait ’til we get something like African swine fever, where we have to test that.

Lydia Johnson: And you know, some excitement here, some discussion about this PRRS-resistant pig, the genetic testing, you know? What excites you most about those technologies and those advancements looking forward.

Kevin Stuckey: Yeah. I was just talking in the trade show with somebody about this. And you know, the word that comes out is, you know, that would be a game changer. And for, you know, somehow who’s really, you know, we’ve battled PRRS for five or seven years now. I would say it’s not a game changer. It’s a life changer, you know? Just having that peace of mind of not having to worry about PRRS. I can’t express how great that would be. But it’s something that really has to be thought through. You know, there could be supply issues. There’s obviously, you know, the acceptance of the genetics. So it’s not to be taken lightly, but I think we really need to do our homework and make sure that we’re doing the right thing.

Lydia Johnson: Congress hasn’t passed a full Farm Bill since 2018, and it’s looking more unlikely to happen as some of those elements get rolled into reconciliation. You know, what’s your message to lawmakers that, you know, do they need to still continue to push for this?

Kevin Stuckey: Absolutely. I know, you know, they’ve got a lot on their plates and there’s a lot going on. You just can’t, you know, we can’t let that Farm Bill continue to get pushed back year after year, you know? You know, seeing, you know, some bipartisan help, you know, going across the aisle, getting that passed, it’s not, you know, it’s not only just for the farmers, but you know, as you feed people and the neediness of the food programs that go with that Farm Bill, we need it. We need it bad. If you look at Prop 12, you know, what we’re trying to do there and trying to keep it uniform and consistent, make sure we’ve got like a good level playing field for everybody on that.

Chris Ford, VP Corporate Swine Lender at Farm Credit Services of America

Lydia Johnson: The pork industry suffered one of the worst economic years on record in 2023. We asked Chris Ford, the VP Corporate Swine Lender at Farm Credit Services of America if the industry has recovered.

Chris Ford: Right now, if you look at the industry, you look at what Iowa State’s kind of already put out as far as the first half of 2025, it’s been very strong. We’re seeing returns, we’ve seen our cost structure get more in line. Corn and soybean meal have come back down into levels that make it more profitable for producers to have a good year in 2025. And so as we think forward into the latter half of 2025, very, very optimistic around the potential. If producers can stay healthy and lock in some risk management with their animals, it’s gonna be an exciting year for most producers this year.

Lydia Johnson: And the Farm Credit system finances, many of the top pork producers in the US, what changes have some of these producers undergone? Or are they planning to weather this, it’s really challenging economic season?

Chris Ford: Yeah, so we have the opportunity to be involved with 28 of the top 40 producers across the nation. So we have a wide breadth of perspective as we look through what producers are doing well, and where there’s areas to potentially improve. And so one thing that we like to try to do is help producers bring perspective. What we’re seeing across multiple operations and what we’re seeing is guys implementing technologies around biosecurity and risk management and how they’re able to produce pigs efficiently. And it’s been good so far.

Lydia Johnson: And are you seeing more producers pulling back on expansions or delaying upgrades because of those tighter margins?

Chris Ford: Absolutely. It’s been an area where we talk about finishers have not been, new finishers haven’t been put in place for probably two or three years now. So guys have really pulled back on their capital expenditures. We’re not seeing a lot of new sows being placed into the industry, which is probably a good thing, ’cause we’re at a pretty decent sow number right now. Don’t need a lot of new sows. But as guys are looking at projects, they’re looking at asset utilization. And so if there’s assets that need improvements, or need to move to a more biosecure location, those are some of the decisions the producers are making right now, as far as do I improve the site that I have here? Do I shut this site down? Do I move to a more biosecure location? When you think about the cost of construction, think about the cost of money. Those are great decisions for these guys.

Lydia Johnson: And animal health is still very top of mind. Look at all the threat of disease, how is that impacting producer’s decision, their economic decisions?

Chris Ford: Right, right. I mean, production has been challenged at best. PRRS continues to be very prevalent in this industry. And whereas we see systems that are dealing with, in some cases, 20 to 30% death loss in sow units when we have a PRRS break. And so it’s highly challenged, and production is always top of mind for these guys, ’cause the more pigs that we can produce, the better bottom line we can have. And so we think about biosecurity, implementing technology, filtration and sow units. All those things kind of go into the decisions of what do we need to do to produce as many pigs as possible and gain the most efficiencies.

Lydia Johnson: China is one of the largest importers of US pork. That’s just one of the countries that purchases so much. How are these companies weathering the uncertainty of tariffs as leaders continue to negotiate those trade bills?

Chris Ford: Yeah. Risk management’s key. And again, you can lay off risk through either insurance products, or using the board of trade to kind of lay risk off and find opportunities to lock prices in. But again, tariffs have created a lot of uncertainty. And so guys continue to watch their bottom line, have good financials put into place so they can know what their cost of production is. And if you know your cost of production, then you can make sound decisions and know when to pull the trigger as far as risk management and try to lay some of that risk off. And so, again, tariff talk continues to be strong. We’re watching closely what happens in Mexico, they’re a significant trade partner, especially in the pork world, expansion that’s happening in Brazil, and some of the downsizing that’s going on in Europe right now. All those things we’re watching very, very closely, as we’re moving forward.

Lydia Johnson: And for the producers listening and trying to plan for a pretty uncertain future, I mean, you said it’s on the up and up, but an uncertain future. What’s your advice for staying financially resilient over the next few years, over the short term?

Chris Ford: Yeah, it starts with a good set of financials, and just understanding where you stand. And not looking at that just on a one time a year basis. You need to continually look in on your financials, your cost production, know where you stand, know where you need to improve. And it’s important to work with lenders and consultants that understand the ebbs and flows of this industry. We at Farm Credit believe that we are experts in this industry. All we do is swine in our team. We have a team that’s dedicated to swine. And so that’s all we see. And so we bring that perspective, the areas where guys can find opportunities, and where they need to improve.

Kylee Deniz, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Pork Council

Lydia Johnson: Kylee Deniz is Executive Director of the Oklahoma Pork Council. We asked her about the sentiment of producers in her state after a challenging few years in the pork industry.

Kylee Deniz: It has been a hard recent time, right? We came out of a pandemic and into the hardest economic times for farmers. And in Oklahoma, the one thing I love about our farmers is they just are optimistic, right? Always cautious, but optimistic. And so, we try to keep that lens out of the Oklahoma Pork Council as we serve our farmers, that we want to be optimistic, but cautious as this world continues to change on a very quick pace.

Lydia Johnson: More than a quarter of US pork production is exported. With the recent tariffs, have you seen producers in your state change their decision making with the current trade uncertainty?

Kylee Deniz: Sure. Well, in today’s world, it’s a 24-hour news headline, right? And a tariff yesterday could be a different tariff tomorrow, or there could be a delay in the tariff. And so, our farmers are just really leaning in to what’s going on, on a national landscape, because that ultimately impacts what they’re doing on the farm. In Oklahoma, we have a big pork production plant in Guymon, and a lot of that product is going abroad. And so, we’re feeling it on the farm level, we’re feeling it at the plant, and just continue to really try to stay in the loop as to what’s going on from a trade and tariff perspective.

Lydia Johnson: Have you seen producers change how they operate or how they’re investing in response to all the trade uncertainty right now?

Kylee Deniz: Yeah. I have an ag background myself, and I love the ag mindset, right? You just put your head down and you work hard. And I haven’t seen immediate changes by our farmers. However, we know that there’s things to be watchful over. But at this time, the concept of just like head down, work hard is really proving to be valuable as we navigate this landscape.

Lydia Johnson: The threat of foreign animal disease is always in the background. What are you monitoring right now, and how are your state producers staying prepared?

Kylee Deniz: Our farmers continue to grow and get better and learn more. And the biosecurity on our farms, we are a big sow state, we have about 450,000 sows. And so, biosecurity has never been more important, and we applaud our farmers for taking that so seriously. But then, also, thinking through some of the different ways in which feed moves or pigs move. So, you know, if we were to experience a foreign animal disease, we have a better plan. And we hope it never gets here, we hope that we… We and our partners are doing everything that they can to keep a foreign animal disease like African Swine Fever out of the US. But in the event that there is one, we have done our preparation in Oklahoma.

Lydia Johnson: There’s always a number of issues taking shape at the state level. I’m wondering, what’s on your radar in Oklahoma right now?

Kylee Deniz: Sure. Well, Oklahoma is 1 of 42, Oklahoma Pork Council, 1 of 42 state pork associations. And our job is to serve the industry, and that means protecting our farmers’ freedom to operate to promoting pork as a product. And in recent times, we’ve experienced this uptick in animal opposition, or, you know, opposition towards how pigs, in our case, sows, are housed. And so, we have been really focused on protecting our farmers’ freedom to operate through better telling the ag story, to also supporting our legislature as they are doing things like pass significant initiative petition reform bills that are state legislature.

Lydia Johnson: Looking at those state-level issues, what are pork producers doing, or what can they do to stop those opposing bills? Oklahoma is not the first and certainly won’t be the last to address these type of issues.

Kylee Deniz: That’s right. The voices that we’re feeling in Oklahoma, the actions we’re seeing are similar to those that were in Denver with their ballot, or in Sonoma County. And to your point on where are they going next, who knows? But we are working together with the National Pork Producers Council on the policy side, the National Pork Board on the checkoff side to share the farm story. And then, of course, being the state’s pork association, it’s really up to us to think through who the people are in the state, what coalitions can we build, what relationships are important as we really think through like farmers in what’s the future of farming is in state of Oklahoma.

Lydia Johnson: From the national level, although some farm bill elements were included in reconciliation, others still remain on hold to be addressed in a complete farm bill. What’s your message to lawmakers about the importance of still pushing ahead to pass another farm bill?

Kylee Deniz: Yeah. Well the farm bill’s a big bill, right? And there’s several things that are in the farm bill that matter to agriculture, they matter to any person that’s at the World Pork Expo today. And for us, that range from the foreign animal disease preparedness, to the trade programs, to a Proposition 12 fix. Those are all important, and those happen through the farm bill. So we need a farm bill.

The Week Ahead

Lydia Johnson: Thanks for joining us for another episode of “Agri-Pulse Newsmakers.” Next week, both the House and Senate will be in session. The Senate will continue working on their version of the Budget Reconciliation Bill, which Majority Leader John Thune is aiming to pass before the 4th of July. Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins will testify before the House-side committee on Wednesday. The Congressional Baseball Game is also on Wednesday in Washington. The World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates Report will be released Thursday. And the Agri-Pulse Food and Ag Issues Summit is Tuesday in Sacramento, California. You can still sign up in person or virtually to gain insights on water issues, the ag economy and perspectives from the California capital. For “Agri-Pulse,” I’m Lydia Johnson, thanks for watching.

Narrator: “Newsmakers” is a production of Agri-Pulse Communications. You can also find our new content on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to follow “Agri-Pulse” and our correspondents on social media to get breaking news and more. For agriculture, trade, food, environment and regulatory news, your source is agripulse.com.