2023 Stakeholder Report
Building a Bigger Appetite for Pork
Our 2023 stakeholder report highlights the collaborative efforts of producer leaders, the board of directors, partner organizations and NPB staff.
2023 Highlights
NPB is a consumer-focused, producer-led organization. Its Checkoff-funded education, promotion and research initiatives to build trust and add value for the U.S. pork industry are led by producers and supported by allied industry, academia and state pork association staff.
$2 million+
2023 Pork Checkoff Grant Program funded more than $2 million projects in 30+ states
512,000
Added more than 512,000 movements in AgView
61,791
PQA+ certifications in 49 states and 29,156 TQA certifications in 47 states
34
Producers participated in 5 task forces
16
Industry and academic professionals served on the U.S. Pork Center of Excellence board of directors
3
Showpig producers participated in 3 FAD Tabletop Exercises
Message from the President
“I witness the incredible dedication of pig farmers nationwide with every conversation, and this firm commitment fuels my belief in the industry’s potential, reinforced by the invested Pork Checkoff funds.”
Bob Ruth, NPB President
Domestic Market Development
Today’s marketing efforts are not just about selling more pork but creating long-term demand. Understanding the consumer is imperative when building demand. The U.S. population is quickly changing and the generation shift presents a significant challenge to the industry. NPB is stepping up to the plate to lead strategic change in pork consumption.
Ponle Pork
Ponle Pork is a consumer campaign built upon flavor, nutrition and culture that establishes pork as the go-to protein to add to meals, traditions, routines and nutritious lifestyles.
NPB created Ponle Pork to encourage Hispanic consumers to view pork as more than the centerpiece of meals, but to realize its potential as a flavorful ingredient.
Don’t Miss the Flavor
Don’t Miss the Flavor is a consumer campaign that leans into elements such as taste, cultural flavors of soul food and nutrition. African American consumers have made a connection between food and their health. Pork is considered a guilty pleasure based on perceptions surrounding processed, high-affinity cuts such as ribs.
Don’t Miss the Flavor aims to close the gap between processed and fresh pork by demonstrating how consumers can eat nutritious meals without sacrificing flavor.
Foodservice & Convenience Store Efforts
Successful pork-centric menu items provide an important market for pork and help NPB open more doors for similar foodservice partnerships. NPB has aggressively deployed your Checkoff dollars in domestic and international markets to drive volume and value in 2023, with even bigger plans for 2024. NPB’s team is working with the entire supply chain to drive demand for quality U.S.-raised pork and making the case for consumers to buy more pork more often.
Message from the CEO
“Your producer-led board directed more than $18 million in 2023 to enhance our efforts to grow domestic pork demand with a focus on sales and human nutrition.”
Bill Even, NPB CEO
Human Nutrition
NPB is committed to sourcing credible research and insights to present accurate food and nutrition information in ways that are easy to understand and relay to others. The human nutrition team continues to find ways to shift common misconceptions about pork’s nutrition profile by amplifying science-based evidence, sharing a compelling story, and gaining the endorsement of trusted voices in the nutrition community.
Pork & Partners
Nutrition professionals are the go-to for nutrition advice for consumers and interact with over 260 million people on an annual basis. The new NPB program, Pork & Partners, helps health care professionals meet the demands of everyday practice while providing opportunities for dietitians to build connection throughout more than 1,000 registered dietitians and other health professionals being given peer-reviewed research and evidence-based educational tools and resources to learn about how pork fits into a balanced diet.
Surprisingly Pork
The often-overlooked value pork brings to the grocery store and dinner plate gives the pork industry significant – and perhaps surprising – opportunities to meet the needs of consumers and retailers.
Led by a producer-led working group, Surprisingly Pork is the industry’s unique and authentic health and wellness-focused consumer campaign created to translate relevant research into compelling and emotive language subverting people’s ingrained beliefs about pork.
International Market Development
The Pork Checkoff has an international market development strategy to build confidence in U.S. Pork in a diverse global protein market. We look for areas to differentiate U.S. Pork from competitors and add value and opportunity into other markets.
Expanding International Market Developement
Through cross-industry collaboration, NPB partners with and invests in the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) to maximize pork marketing efforts abroad. USMEF executes trade promotion for U.S. Pork and pork products on behalf of the Pork Checkoff and positions U.S. Pork as a wholesome, high-quality and consistent product to global customers.
A Record Year for Exports
In 2023, U.S. pork exports surpassed $8.1 billion in value. In total, more than 2.9 million metric tons of pork was exported to other markets.
Thought Leadership
Through subject matter experts, NPB continues to position the pork industry as thought leaders on critical topics consistent with the We Care® Ethical Principles. Event sponsorships, speaking engagements and focused social media posts and bylines position our subject matter experts on various platforms and stages to reach decision-makers outside of the industry.
In 2023, we enlisted panel participants for opportunities such as Animal AgTech Innovation Summit, GreenBiz Webinar, Future of Food Conference, Sustainable Brands Conference and Animal Health and Nutrition & Innovation USA.
On behalf of NPB and the pork industry, Dale Stevermer of Trails End Farm in Minnesota spoke at the G7 Summit in Japan at the invitation of the USDA and the host government. For the UN Conference on the Parties (COP28), Jamie Burr presented alongside other Protein PACT-aligned speakers with messages that credibly presented meat’s irreplaceable role in solutions for sustainable food systems and food security.
Sustainability
NPB is here to help with business resources for all producers that support individual farms and the long-term outlook for the pork industry overall. The Pork Cares Farm Impact Report is one of those resources. This program is an investment NPB is making
to strengthen market demand for pork and foster valuable partnerships with retailers.
These collaborations can benefit all producers by showcasing the high-quality, sustainable practices of our industry. NPB is investing Pork Checkoff funds into this program to elevate pork’s reputation as both nutritious and planet- friendly. This initiative is not just about sustainability. It is about showing the hard work pork producers put into their farms and their readiness to partner with retailers
Pork Cares Farm Impact Report
Over 300 farms, 170,660 acres, representing more than 3.3 million pigs, are currently in the program and providing on-farm data across environmental, social and economic sustainability indicators.
Swine Health
Collaboration within the industry plays a vital role in preparing for potential FAD outbreaks. It is essential as it unites different segments of the industry, despite their varying business focuses, for an effective response during animal health emergencies. Tools and resources such as AgView and Secure Pork Supply Plan, backed by the Pork Checkoff, offer solutions to aid in preparedness.
Research & Functional Exercises
In 2023, NPB partnered with industry, state, and federal animal health officials to educate stakeholders and improve foreign animal disease (FAD) preparedness and response through a series of fully functional emergency preparedness exercises, mortality management workshops, and depopulation and mortality management demonstrations.
Continual Improvements to AgView
Farmers and their pigs are in constant motion, with an estimated one million movements occurring daily, excluding the transportation of essential supplies like feed and semen. This movement presents increased opportunities for the potential spread of harmful pathogens. AgView has transformed the ability to monitor these movements across the United States in realtime, marking a significant shift in emergency preparedness.
Producers now have the ability to opt-in to data sharing, providing access to real-time location and movement information for their animals to state animal health officials. This proactive step ensures the availability of up-to-date information with owner details, premises information, movement records, Secure Pork Supply documentation and laboratory results.
2023 AgView Stats
- Added more than 512,000 movements
- Currently over 13,500 movements logged weekly
- Over 100 new producer accounts created
Research Breakdown
Research is at the heart of the National Pork Board’s mission and is funded by Pork Checkoff dollars. Research is administered in all areas of pork production, processing and human nutrition to develop a higher quality and more profitable product in the competitive meat protein market.
