Sustainability Outlook
By National Pork Board
Many definitions of sustainability exist, but third-generation Illinois pig farmer Jill Brokaw views it as generations with similar strategies but applying improved innovation.
“There is a sustainability cycle between crops and livestock; a masterpiece resonating with the industry’s commitment to continuous improvement and the needs of customers and suppliers,” she said.
Brokaw reminisces about her childhood when the development of grinding corn was a big deal; yet today’s technology recycles products to add nutritional value to pig diets. This example is one drop in a methane-capturing covered lagoon of sustainability practices on the farm.
Brokaw is working with National Pork Board as an on-the-ground conduit to help pig farmers learn more about NPB's sustainability resources, like the Checkoff-funded Pork Cares Farm Impact Reports. This tool documents, measures and reports sustainability practices for farmers. Through her work, Brokaw receives an unexpected reward.
“I find pig farmers don’t realize what they are already doing is sustainability,” explained Brokaw. “[After their report] they realize, ‘oh, I am sustainable.’ I have worked with farmers transitioning from reluctant participants to champions for their report, and other conservative-driven producers who are simply excited to analyze and share their data.”
The reports are part of the industry's demonstration of its We Care Ethnical principles, which help share pig farmers' people, pigs and the planet commitment to food industry partners and consumers worldwide. Farmers’ data is securely stored with third-party experts Sustainable Environmental Consultants (SEC), released only in reports for the farmer and aggregated and anonymized for state and national pork associations to measure goals and metrics.
“Sustainable Environmental Consultants was developed by farmers for farmers; they understand the uniqueness of operational sizes and production practices. The friendly and professional conversations unveil business and continuous improvement potential the reports may have," said Jamie Burr, National Pork Board's chief sustainability officer. "SEC's credited partnership will help the industry build trust and protect freedom to operate by securely storing sustainability metrics important to customers and consumers.”
For individual pig farmers, the data from this report brings more depth to decision-making. It provides more meaningful information for short- and long-term goals. The on-farm reports can centralize and quantify key sustainability metrics, including:
Cropping and tillage practices
Manure management
Soil type and testing
Community service
“Asking ‘why’ the industry has sustainability objectives gives reason for requesting these easy-to-complete reports,” highlighted Brokaw. “After requesting a report on porkchekoff.org, a well-versed SEC technician will connect with you to learn about what your farm looks like, your current practices and the data readily available. And farmers are great at documenting data.”
Participants will receive a second report with tangible opportunities for continuous improvement.
On-farm reports create funding opportunities National Pork Board is currently leading administration of a $20 million USDA Climate Smart Commodity grant, with its strength rooted in its expertise, diversity and reach of the grant partners. After completion of an on-farm sustainability report, pig farmers in Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri may be eligible to apply for grant funding to help them adopt select practices.
No two farms are the same, so the grant program was developed to allow eligible practices to be tailored to growers’ needs while reporting progress toward meaningful climate benefits. As grant partners, SEC and Ducks Unlimited provide technical assistance to eligible farms and support and minimize risk in adopting climate-smart practices. As Brokaw noted, sometimes it's hard to know where to start or how to get from point A to point B. This grant offers individualized assistance to help identify the best route.
The climate-smart production practices acknowledged in the grant due to their suitability for the region and production systems include:
Cover crops
Livestock integration (in cover crops)
Reduced or no tillage
Reduced fertilizer application
Manure management, like pumping twice per year
Edge-of-field grass buffers
In-barn adjustments like switching to LED lighting
Generational sustainability can be benchmarked today and improved tomorrow. Visit the website for full details and to request a Pork Cares Farm Impact Report.
More climate-smart grant funds available to pig farmers With nearly 50% of pork’s environmental footprint attributable to the crops raised for feed, working with United Soybean Board and National Corn Growers Association to advance both climate-smart pork management and feed production supply practices can make a significant impact on the overall sustainability footprint of U.S. pork. (Putnam et al. 2018).
In addition to the Advancing U.S. Pork Sustainability grant, NPB also partners with USB and NCGA on a USDA Climate-Smart Grant awarded to Farmers for Soil Health. This partnership between the commodity groups and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation establishes financial and technical assistance for corn and soybean farmers who adopt cover crops. The focus is to bring money directly back to farmers, where sustainability is happening at the farm level.
Hear from Ben West, executive director of Farmers for Soil Health, and visit the website to learn more.
The National Pork Board has responsibility for Pork Checkoff-funded research, promotion and consumer information projects and for communicating with pork producers and the public. The Pork Checkoff funds national and state programs in consumer education and marketing, retail and foodservice marketing, export market promotion, production improvement, science and technology, swine health, pork safety, and environmental management and sustainability.
