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.

• Renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel’s impact on the corn and soy markets.
• How this apolitical initiative will negatively impact animal agriculture.
• How our pursuits for sustainability are actually hurting the rainforests.
• There is a political cognition and awareness of this issue, but it can’t be stopped.
• We must be prepared by finding a viable diversity of feedstuffs.

From vegetable farm manager to global ISO auditor, David then moved into the poultry sector when he purchased a UK broiler farm in 2004 and continues to operate a contract poultry farm management company in the UK. In 2018, David founded OPTIFarm. OPTIfarm is a very unique data driven support service, currently for poultry and swine, assessing real time farm data against animal behavioural knowledge and human considerations to increase productivity and welfare globally 24/7. David has a broad and open mind regarding the opportunities of data and digital solutions in farming and he has a passion for creating tangible value from digital solutions.

• ©Tim Scrivener Photographer 07850 303986

• The intersection of technology and people.
• The value of improving you and your team’s competency and confidence.
• The factors that are holding technologies back in pork production.
• The dangers of asking one company to provide it all.
• The value of subscriptions and how they truly are supposed to be a partnership.
• David Speller’s “golden nugget”

Elizabeth Rumley is a senior staff attorney at the National Agricultural Law Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. At the Center, her primary research and scholarship focus is on legal issues in animal agriculture, and she frequently lectures on those issues and others to audiences nationwide. She has co-taught a course covering “Animals and Agricultural Production, Law and Policy” at the University of Nebraska College of Law and the University of Oklahoma College of Law, and has developed and teaches a graduate/undergraduate course discussing legal issues in animal agriculture at the University of Arkansas. Additionally, she teaches Environmental Law at the University of Arkansas.  She is licensed to practice law in Michigan, Ohio, and Oklahoma after earning her B.A. from Michigan State University, her J.D. cum laude from the University of Toledo College of Law, and her LL.M. in Agricultural Law from the University of Arkansas School of Law.

Disclaimer: This interview was conducted in May 2022. Since this interview SCOTUS has agreed to hear Prop 12 in the Supreme Court.

1. How the law touches almost all aspects of agriculture.
2. What the legislative process looks like.
3. Some of the proposals that are impacting animal agriculture.
4. The “Commerce Clause” and the precedence that Prop 12 could set.
5. Elizabeth Rumley’s “golden nugget”

Emily Erickson grew up on a small, diversified livestock and crop farm near Dundee, MN.  Her parents bought their farm in the early ’80’s, right as the farm crisis hit.  Her dad raised pigs outdoors, a farrow to finish operation of about 100 sows at the time, and also farmed corn, soybeans and usually oats, for bedding. Emily graduated from South Dakota State University with a B.S. in Animal Science. She was fortunate to fall into an animal welfare role for a production system right at the start of the industry reacting to activists and welfare videos.  Emily spent 13 years internally auditing and monitoring the welfare of a 53,000 sow system.  She has sat on the committees for National Pork Board and Minnesota Pork and is currently still engaged on the Common Swine Industry Audit Task Force, which she has been a part of since the CSIA’s inception.  Emily is currently the Head of Human Resources for Wakefield Pork and lives in Jackson, MN with her two kiddos, August and Hazel, who keep her on her toes!  They enjoy spending time outdoors, going to her parent’s home farm to ride/drive Grampa’s Kubota and spending time with family. 

• The industry’s slow transition from a lifestyle to a career to a job mentality.
• How the focus on animal welfare has improved in the industry and where Emily thinks it’s going.
• How the great resignation has affected the pork industry and how our caretakers attitudes changed.
• The areas that Emily feels that our industry could use the most improvement.
• How we bridge the gap between the great resignation and maintaining our farm’s animal care standards.
• Emily Erickson’s “golden nugget”

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 to the U.S. Supreme Court.

He was previously an attorney in private practices in Washington, D.C., where he represented agricultural clients on environmental and natural resource matters.  He has been recognized as one of the foremost experts in Washington, D.C. on environmental and energy policy. 

Formica received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Rhode Island and his law degree from Vermont Law School where he founded the school’s influential environmental law journal. He has been admitted to the bar for the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as multiple other federal courts.

• Michael’s role in fighting activism and Proposition 12.
• How Proposition 12 affects producers across the country.
• How Massachusetts Question 3 is similar and different from Proposition 12.
• NPPC’s stand on the road to the Supreme Court.
• How NPPC is looking at the prospect of additional state regulations.
• What producers can do to get more involved.
• Michael Formica’s “golden nugget”

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

• Where the inspiration for becoming an entrepreneur came from.
• The founding story of Ascension Ag and how it is elevating biosecurity.
• The research and other successes that validated the technology.
• The value of having great mentors and advisors.
• The importance of authenticity and passion in the swine industry.
• How pork producers can help swine industry entrepreneurs.
• Jeb Gent’s “golden nugget”

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, Agtech, Biotech, and Healthcare industries. Joel holds a degree in economics from the University of Iowa and a professional certificate in public relations, marketing, and non-fiction writing from Northwestern University.

• The Harris family history in pig production.
• What saRNA is and the impact that it can make.
• What the relationship between United Animal Health and Genvax means to the industry.
• What Genvax is focusing on in the short term and long term.
• What producers should know about Genvax.
• Joel Harris’s “golden nugget”.

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 Pork Producers Association, Michigan Farm Bureau, National Pork Board’s Nominating Committee, NPPC’s Competitive Markets Committee, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Mutual Agricultural Software Association, the ODC Network, and the Michigan Maritime Museum. He and his wife Heather, their son, and three daughters reside in Holland, MI.

• How Bob Dykhuis founded Dykhuis Farms.
• The importance of good timing and their strategic relationships.
• Selecting the right model to facilitate growth.
• The experience of growing up in a scaling business.
• The challenges that growth brings.
• Joseph Dykhuis’s “golden nugget”

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 SwineIt’s SwineCampus. Rebecca’s goal is to always deliver the highest quality, applied business solutions to the swine industry.

Rebecca has supported veterinary services for two of the world’s integrated pork production companies. She began her veterinary career in 2009 as an associate veterinarian with Banfield, The Pet Hospital.  In 2010, she (officially) became a swine veterinarian.  From 2013-2021, Rebecca was part of a seasoned swine production management team and led 12 who were responsible for the health and well-being of 280,000 sows and their offspring from wean to market. In addition to veterinary responsibilities, she advised the applied research and development team which coordinated an average of 45 studies per year.

Dr. Rebecca Robbins earned her BS, DVM and PhD degrees from North Carolina State University in 2004, 2009, and 2016. Her doctoral degree emphasis was in Population Medicine and Veterinary Public Health. Among Rebecca’s biggest accomplishments was receiving the Allen D. Leman Science in Practice award and completing the Pikes Peak Marathon. Her greatest professional joy has been teaching animal caretakers, college students, and the public about pig and pork production.  

1. The most exciting and concerning aspects of being a new swine veterinarian.
2. Experiences/Stories/Mentors that made Rebecca the veterinarian that she is today.
3. How the role of a swine veterinarian has changed over the past 20 years.
4. How new veterinary grads need to be thinking about their futures.
5. What the role of a successful swine veterinarian will look like in 20 years.
6. Dr. Rebecca Robbins’s “golden nugget”.

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 Company Agruniek Rijnvallei from September 1998 until October 2007. For 9 years he gave technical support to his customers and was responsible for sales too. His main focus was to take his clients to a higher technical level.

After 9 years he started working for Topigs Norsvin as a Specialist in Feeding & Genetics, as member of the Topigs Norsvin International Feed group. Chris’s main task in this team was to develop advice for feeding and management of all Topigs Norsvin products. He gave technical support for the breeding farms worldwide, clients and colleagues and also to the Feed Industry and all other partners in the pig industry as well.  For the past 5 years, Chris has been responsible for the Topigs Norsvin Feed Group. He is managing an enthusiastic, driven, and very professional team of scientist, nutritionist and advisers all over the world. This worldwide team is responsible for developing and maintaining Feed and Management advice of all Topigs Norsvin products. With this BEST TEAM and our advice is it possible to support our clients worldwide to unlock the full genetic potential?

• Predictive modeling for the profitability of barrows and gilts.
• Research results with Kalmbach and Purdue.
• The importance of knowing your packer’s preferences.
• The value that is being left on the table.
• Chris Opschoor’s “golden nugget”.