Popular Pig

About the Guest In his capacity as Chief Legal Strategist for the National Pork Producers Council, Michael Formica works with state and federal lawmakers on pressing, high profile issues impacting livestock production. His work leading strategic legal initiatives has benefitted America’s 66,000 pig farmers across the country, including efforts to get NPPC’s challenge to California Proposition 12 t...

About the Guest Jeb Gent is the co-founder of Ascension Ag, a livestock biosecurity company. His focus is to solve niche biosecurity issues in swine and other large animal industries. He has a passion for helping people and solving problems. When he is not working, he is spending time with family and friends, driving tractors or spending time outside.  Jeb Gent What can you expect to learn from th...

About the Guest Joel is the CEO and Co-founder of Genvax Technologies. Formerly he was the Director of Product at GlobalVetLINK and was VP of Harrisvaccines, which Merck Animal Health acquired in November of 2015. Along with coordinating investor relations and mentoring at the Ag Startup Engine, he participates in several advisory and mentoring roles to entrepreneurs and startups in the SaaS, Agte...

About the Guest Joseph Dykhuis was born and raised on his family’s farm in Holland, MI. Joseph is a Purdue University graduate with a B.S. in Agricultural Economics. Joseph is the President of the family farm, Dykhuis Farms, Inc, a farrow to finish pork producer in Michigan and Indiana. Dykhuis Farms also farm row crops in Ottawa, Allegan and Van Buren Counties. He is a member of the Michigan...

About the Guest Dr. Rebecca Robbins is a mom, veterinarian and swine industry professional with 12 years of post-graduate experience. Her business, R.C. Robbins Swine Consulting Services PLLC, provides consultation in swine health management and research to animal health companies and swine producers. She is also the Lead instructor for the Elite Swine Veterinary Program available through Swi...

About the Guest Chris Opschoor is 43 years old and already for 22 years working in the pig industry. After his study at the Hogeschool INHOLLAND on Animal Husbandry, 1994 – 1998 he graduated with a BSc in Swine husbandry and later obtained his Masters in Animal Breeding and Genetics from Wageningen University. He started working as Account Manager (Swine nutrition and farming) for the Compan...

About the Guest Precision Livestock Technologies CEO Andrew McKenzie co-founded the company in 2019 to bring new sources of data and analytics to the livestock industry.  Prior to PLT, he held executive positions in several software companies, worked in venture capital in New York City, and was lead engineer at a global industrial gas company.  He lives in Dallas, TX with his wife and two children...

About the Guest Chris is a widely respected sales and marketing leader who delivers breakthrough growth for clients and builds high performance teams. He presents frequently on industry-changing trends, and his expertise is sought by senior executives of both retailers and food/packaged goods companies. In addition, he partners with industry trade associations and serves on several councils and bo...

About the Guest Shonda Sammons is a partner and Program Leader with the sister organization of 21st Century, 21st Century Agriculture Leadership. With over 30+ years of experience, she works with employers and employees to provide coaching, guidance, and leadership development. In addition to her highly engaging facilitation style, Shonda converts individuals into enterprising champions and assist...

About the Guest Dr. Jack A. Shere is the Deputy Administrator for Veterinary Services at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Beyond the domestic program diseases work that is a large part of the Veterinary Services mission, Dr. Shere has worked on animal disease outbreaks of Salmonella enteridittis (SE), Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in England,...

About the Guest Rob Brenneman and his wife Char own and operate Brenneman Pork in Washington, Iowa. They have four children, who along with their spouses are all involved in the operation. Rob enjoys spending time with their 12 grandchildren. Rob’s interest in livestock began with hogs as a 4-H project. He and his dad raised pigs at their home just outside of Keota, Iowa. While in high school Rob...

What can you expect to learn from this episode of Popular Pig? Why the topic of innovation and innovative culture matters. Why patterns can be dangerous even when they are formed through success. Why people fear the concept and practice of innovation. The story of Kodak “The Kings of Photography” What is the next big opportunity for the pork industry. Steve Lerch’s “golden...

About the Guest Currently the Business Unit Specialist for Water Treatment at Neogen Corporation, Jesse develops and implements water treatment chemicals and programs to aid in production animal health in poultry, swine, and ruminants. Jesse assists Neogen’s partners in the field and laboratory as well as production managers, veterinarians, and independent producers in setting up cost-effective wa...

About the Guest Jason McAlister, president CloverLeaf Animal welfare Systems, started his career at the world-famous Gilbertville locker. He went on to work with IBP and Tyson until 2007, when he transitioned to Triumph Foods. He has since led their animal welfare program, was a past NAMI animal welfare committee chair, and served as an advisor to the National Pork Board’s animal welfare com...

About the Guest Gene Noem finishes hogs at JMG Farms in Howard County. Gene also manages the contracted gilt multiplication for PIC North America. He is in his second term on the National Pork Board of Directors, and currently serving as President.  Noem grew up in eastern South Dakota. His base experience is rooted in his experience with his parents. They were careful in spending, liberal in work...

About the Guest Dr. Adian Balaban is the executive director of Pork & Co., Cooperativa Silistea Productie Suine, which is also a genetic multiplier for Topigs Norsvin. Additionally, Dr. Balaban serves as the President of the Romanian Association of Swine Veterinarians and serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Romanian Pork Producers Association. He is also a consultant for the U...

About the Guest Dr. Adian Balaban is the executive director of Pork & Co., Cooperativa Silistea Productie Suine, which is also a genetic multiplier for Topigs Norsvin. Additionally, Dr. Balaban serves as the President of the Romanian Association of Swine Veterinarians and serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Romanian Pork Producers Association. He is also a consultant for the U...

About the Guest Jim Huang has 24 years of experience in the commodity futures industry. Starting as a data analyst with Thomson Reuters in St. Louis in 1998, then moved to Chicago in 2001. During his 11 years at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, he worked closely with the Agricultural Commodities team, coordinating market maker programs for options contracts including Corn, Soybean, Wheat, Lean Hog...

Quotes “Getting started was so fast that it was like I blinked and we were running PigFlow. It was remarkable because there were no issues between blinking.” “I have not looked at my notebooks since the moment that I logged into PigFlow. This is changing the industry!” “PigFlow immediately changed the caretaker’s behaviors throughout the day.” “Every...

About the Guest I’m a Texas gentleman who believes in hard work with a little fun thrown in. My day job is makin’ bacon at Pederson’s Farms as the Vice President. But, my most important job is lovin’ on my wife & three young daughters… and throwing in some cowboy stuff when I can. As if that doesn’t keep me busy enough, I’ve picked up podcasting. You may know me from my Instagram account...

About the Guest Robert van Barneveld is Group CEO and Managing Director of the Sunpork Group of Companies which includes SunPork Farms (farming approximately 51,000 sows across Australia and 3,000 sows in New Zealand), PIC Australia, Swickers Kingaroy Bacon Factory and SunPork Fresh Foods. Collectively the Group produces approximately 18% of Australia’s pork. In addition to his work with SunPork,...

About the Guest A seasoned AgTech Entrepreneur Terry grew up on a dairy farm. After studying engineering he spent 9 years working for blue chip companies worldwide on cloud computing projects. In 2004 he applied this knowledge to the livestock industry founding FarmWizard.com the world’s first SaaS for managing livestock. He grew that business over 10 years selling it in 2015 to Wheatsheaf. Terry...

About the Guest Dr. Márcio Gonçalves graduated in Veterinary Medicine from a leading university in Brazil. After working in commercial swine production, he pursued his Ph. D. from Kansas State University in Applied Swine Nutrition. Upon graduation, he worked as a global swine nutritionist for a major swine genetic company, working with producers from over 20 countries, and has conducted 120 swine-...

About the Guest Steve Lerch is a former Google executive, a consultant, and an award-winning international public speaker. He spent nearly a decade at Google designing the digital strategies and marketing campaigns of well known brands like GoPro, federal government agencies like the US Census, and national checkoff programs like the National Pork Board and Avocados From Mexico. Steve also served...

About SwineTech provides pork producers with workforce and swine management solutions that increase the quality of care for pigs everywhere. We are committed to helping pork producers navigate labor and survivability challenges within their operations. We accomplish this by providing production employees with a workforce and swine management platform that immediately improves workplace organizatio...