Popular Pig

About the Guest Jeff Kayser has 40 years of swine operations experience working with independent and integrated pork producers. Including business development through facility acquisitions, new construction, renovation and expansion of swine facilities and contract grower procurement. Coordinating transportation and truck wash operations, animal movements and marketing activities. Directing inform...

About the Guest John Paul Engel is the Founder of Knowledge Capital Consulting and Secure Bin Labs. John has worked in a dozen countries advising the senior management of some of the largest companies in the world. He has helped dozens of companies go from idea to a high growth company. John’s advice has appeared in INC, Fast Company, Forbes, Fortune, and over 250 publications. He has been i...

About the Guest Aidan is President of AgriTech Capital, a resource for new and established companies working at the interface of agriculture and technology. Prior to this Aidan was CEO at Cainthus and CIO at Alltech among other senior roles in a 25 year plus career at that company.  He is also a non-executive director at Origin Enterprises, the leading crop inputs company in Northern Europe. AgriT...

About the Guest Joseph Kerns, President of  Partners for Production Agriculture , has thirty years’ experience working with producers, suppliers, and mills to support agricultural operations. He leads a team of professionals with the purpose of understanding the financial parameters around agricultural markets so that those that he works with can thrive and prosper. Joseph Kerns What can you...

About the Guest Levi C. Maaia is the director of “Pathways to Invention” a documentary on Lemelson-MIT award-winning inventors. He was in Iowa City recently filming at SwineTech for the film. Levi began his media career in FM radio, cable television and broadband where he became fascinated by the potential for technology to educate, and open a window on the world. He earned a Ph. D. st...

About the Guest Dr. Yanbin Shen is currently the Global Technical Services Director at APC, Inc. APC, Inc. is one of seven independent companies under The Lauridsen Group, Inc. and is headquartered in Ankeny, Iowa. APC was founded in 1981 and is dedicated to the research and application of blood products in animal nutrition. The company has grown into a global manufacturer and supplier of porcine,...

About the Guest A lifelong “car guy” Brad Zimmerman began his career in event marketing which naturally gravitated towards professional motorsports. A move from California to North Carolina in the early 2000’s to be closer to the epicenter of stock car racing, Brad quickly merged his passion of cars with the growing experiential marketing industry which then dovetailed into social and digital mark...

About the Guest Ron Ketchem graduated from the University of Missouri in 1973 with a BS in Animal Science and master studies in Reproductive Physiology and Animal Breeding. He worked 12 years for a genetic company in production, sales, and marketing and developed their AI program. He then spent 15 years in Indiana with a major feed company as a Swine Consultant providing technical support and trai...

About the Guest Chris Westfall is one of the most sought-after business coaches and keynote speakers in the world. He has helped launch over five dozen businesses, and has appeared on ABC NEWS, NBC TV and CNN. A regular contributor to Forbes, he has worked with thousands of leaders at Fortune 500 companies, non-profit organizations and high-tech startups. A coach to entrepreneurs and executives ar...

About the Guest Dr. Kiah Berg grew up on a small show pig farm in Oregon where she found her passion for raising and feeding pigs. She earned her BS in animal science in K-State, and continued on to pursue a MS and PhD in Applied Swine Nutrition with the K-State team. During her graduate career, she had the opportunity to conduct many large scale sow nutrition trials on commercial sow farms includ...

About the Guest Casey L. Bradley was born and raised on a swine and mixed crop operation in SW Michigan. She received a B.S. in Animal Science from Michigan State University. After graduation, Casey worked for New Fashion Pork on farms in Wyoming, Minnesota, and Illinois. In 2002, Casey accepted a position at The University of Arkansas as Swine Research Manager. In addition, Casey completed her M....

About the Guest Brady grew up on a mixed livestock and row crop farm where he found his passion for the swine industry. That led him to earn his B.S. in Animal Science and M.S. in Animal Breeding and Genetics from Iowa State University focusing on sow longevity. Brady started with DNA Genetics in 2015 and currently is the Multiplication Business Lead, where he works with multiplier partners to ens...

About the Guest Brett L. Kaysen, Ph. D., is the senior vice president of sustainability for the National Pork Board. He leads the organization-wide effort to establish pork as the responsible protein of choice. He works to strengthen food chain and consumer understanding of pork production practices by developing research-based communication strategies that engage and influence key decision makers...

About the Guest Dr. Patrick Moore has been a leader in the international environmental field for more than 45 years. He is a co-founder of Greenpeace and served for nine years as President of Greenpeace Canada and seven years as a Director of Greenpeace International. As the leader of many campaigns Dr. Moore was a driving force shaping policy and direction for 15 years while Greenpeace became the...

About the Guest Jimmy Tosh is the owner and CEO of Tosh Pork and Tosh Farms. Tosh Farms is a crop and swine production operation with 19,000 acres of row crops producing both white and yellow corn, soybeans, canola, wheat and barley. Tosh Pork currently has 36,000 sows. Sows are primarily company owned with about 70% of the wean to finish contracted. Trucking is done by Bacon By Gosh, a Tosh owned...

About the Guest Jim Eadie is the founder of  Swineweb.com  and is pioneering in the modern technology of how Pork Producers access information timely and concisely starting in 2005. After growing the brand and business, the group expanded with a Marketing Consulting Service ( www.agricultureadvertising.com ) and spin-off sites for Dairy ( www.dairyproducer.com ), Poultry ( www.poultryproducer.com...

About the Guest Josh Rennells has been with Clemens Food Group for 15 years during which time he led various aspects of the business including Sales and Marketing, Operations, Supply Chain, Hog Procurement, and currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer.  The constant during the multiple roles at Clemens is focusing on adding value to their customers.  During his 15 years at Clemens...

About the Guest Cesar A Corzo is an Associate Professor and the Leman Chair in Swine Health and Productivity at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota. Cesar was born and raised in Colombia where he was involved in beef cattle production from a young age but fell in love with pig production and health. He obtained his DVM degree from the College of Veterinary Medicine at...

About the Guest Dr. DeDecker grew up on a third-generation family pig and grain farm in West Central Illinois. She received her B.S. from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in Animal Science in 2006. She then pursued her Ph. D. in swine well-being at the University of Illinois. After receiving her Ph. D. in 2011, Dr. DeDecker began her career as the Assistant Director of Production Research i...

About the Guest Dr. Tom Stein is Senior Strategic Adviser for Maximus Systems/Maximum Ag Technologies, working on next-generation pig and poultry production management software. He is the creator of the PigCHAMP software and co-founder of MetaFarms. National Hog Farmer magazine named him one of the top 50 men and women who truly made a difference in the US pork industry over the last 100 years. In...

About the Guest Dr. Seth Krantz graduated from vet school at the University of Tennessee in 2010. Since then he has spent 2 years at a swine consulting practice and 9 years at Tosh Pork.  Today Dr. Krantz oversees animal health, well being, and research at Tosh. He is married to his wife Sandra and is the father of 6 year old twins named Oliver and Iris. Dr. Seth Krantz What can you learn from thi...

About the Guest Dr. Tyler Holck has extensive leadership and project management experience dedicated to food animal production, primarily the pork industry, with both large international and small entrepreneurial corporations. Some of which include Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis Animal Health, NOBL Laboratories, and Iowa State University. Tyler Holck What can you learn from this episode of Popular...

About the Guest Dr. Larry Rueff grew up on a small grain and hog farm in Franklin, Indiana. He enrolled at Purdue University in 1972 and graduated with a B.S. in Animal Science in 1976 and a D.V.M. from Purdue University in 1979. In 2001 he received Purdue University’s “Distinguished Agriculture Alumni Award”. In 2005, the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine awarded him their “College...

About the Guest Barrett Eller, of New Fashion Pork, is a Human Resources Manager that leads Performance & Talent Management and Organizational Development throughout their operations which is based out of Jackson, Minnesota. Barrett’s previous experiences with both large publicly traded and privately owned small to middle-sized organizations have led him to his role today at New Fashion Pork a...

About the Guest Vance Crowe is a communications strategist that has worked for corporations and international organizations around the world. He has spoken before more than 150,000 people, answering questions about some of the most sophisticated and controversial technologies in the modern age.  Vance helps organizations realize why the general public doesn’t agree with their perspective and offer...