I hope this letter finds you and your family well. I am Dale Weitekamp, your current Illinois Pork Producers Association (IPPA) President and I am proud to debut our new bi-weekly communication, Barn Talk Bulletin. Our goal is to offer employees industry updates and resources to provoke more “AGvocates”. We hope you will see the value in this new resource and provide feedback on how we can improve the content in the future.
At the beginning of the year, things were heading in a positive direction with producers expecting to break even and maybe even see a little profit. Then, 2020 took an unexpected turn for the worse with the emergence of COVID-19.
What this situation has proven is how critical pig farmers are to the supply chain and that the pork industry must remain strong. We have leaned on each other through this unprecedented time while continuing to provide a safe nutritious protein to consumers despite severe price cuts and labor shortages.
