I appreciate that warm introduction. Again, my name is Roger Coon. I am a pork producer from Northwest Iowa and have been involved in both the state and national pork producer organizations. I’d like to thank Glee Mulder with the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation for inviting me to share with you the National Pork Producer Council’s Environmental Assurance Program. I have copies of a brochure that explains the program for those of you who would like some information to take with you.

Producer eradication is an essential element in remaining profitable and producing a quality product. Furthermore, environmental education is critical in meeting the pork industry’s social responsibility - one of the key goals of the industry’s Long Range Strategic Plan.

Environmental Education has been the cornerstone of the pork industry’s proactive environmental program. That is one of the reasons the Long Range Strategic Plan called for the formation of an Environmental Assurance Program modeled after NPPC’s successful Pork Quality Assurance Program.

With this direction from the pork industry’s leadership, NPPC’s Environmental Committee wanted to create an educational program that promotes the on-farm application of sound environmental management practices. After reviewing a number of option, the Environmental Committee agreed upon a model for the development of this new program. This concept was presented and approved at the 1994 Pork Forum by NPPC’s delegates.

In June 1994, NPPC’s Board of Directors appointed the Environmental Assurance Task Force. This Task Force, composed of producers, allied industry, academics, and government representatives, brought together the skills and knowledge of environment, education, farm management, as well as government programs and policies. The Assurance Task Force did an outstanding job of developing the Environmental Assurance concept into a workable program that will benefit the entire pork industry.

The mission of the Pork Industry’s Environmental Assurance Program is to provide pork producers practical, proactive educational information which enables them to identify and economically address the key management issues affecting the environmental quality of their operations and their communities.

The vision of the Pork Industry’s Environmental Assurance Program Task Force was to develop an educational program promoting the adoption of the economical and environmentally-friendly management practices by U.S. pork producers.

By completing the program, producers will better understand the cause-effect relationship between everyday management practices and long-term environmental quality. Furthermore, producers will have the tools to objectively assess their operations. The program will provide the practical management suggestions and/or resource material that will improve producers’ environmental stewardship. This program will be locally or regionally administered and will include producer certification/recognition.

The Environmental Assurance program will result in the adoption/implementation of economical, environmentally-friendly management practices by individual pork producers. By communicating the practice, progressive efforts of individual pork producers, the pork industry will be viewed as socially-responsible by the general public. Successful implementation of the Environmental Assurance program will allow both the U.S. pork industry and individual producers to demonstrate their long-term commitment to an improved environment.

1 Inform producers of the economic, social, and political benefits of proper environmental management.

2 Teach producers how to objectively assess their own operations and diagnose potential environmental impairments.

3 Provide a systemized process for implementing management practices and recording those practices on a regular basis.

4 Provide a forum (via training meetings and/or newsletters) for the timely exchange of environmentally-friendly management ideas between and among pork producers.

5 Serve as a clearinghouse of environmental resource material and technical information.

6 Provide recognition to those producers who complete the Environmental Assurance Program.

7 Communicate to the public the positive, proactive approach pork producers are taking to ensure environmental quality.

 

First producers will attend an Environmental Assurance workshop sponsored by their state association. Following the workshop, producers complete a voluntary on-farm assessment. Third, producers will be encouraged to use the assessment as the basis for a voluntary farm environmental management plan. Producers will be encouraged to attend a workshop annually. State pork producer associations have been encouraged to vary their topics from year to year. For example, one year the workshop may focus on odor and the following year’s emphasis may be neighbor relations and so on. Learning about the environment is not a one-time deal — it requires continuing education and can stand retooling.

The curriculum for the workshop can be tailored to incorporate state-specific needs. Local trainers, selected by the state pork organization, will conduct the Assurance Workshops at a local level. An overview of the curriculum includes:

1 Introduction to the Environment - the importance of environment to the pork industry and how consumers view the industry.

2 On-farm Inventory - this quick review allows producers to focus on key management areas.

3 Key Environmental Management Information

a. Nutrient Management c. Air Quality/Odor Management

b. Facilities Management d. Community Relations

4 Developing an Environmental Management Plan - how to use the on-farm assessment an local expertise to develop a management plan.

5 State and Local Regulations - highlight what’s required for compliance and how to reduce environmental liability.

Pork producers have been at the table every step of the way during development of this program. Through NPPC’s Environmental Committee and Board of Directors, Pork Forum Delegates, and the producers serving on the Environmental Assurance Task Force, this program has been written for producers by producers.

To date nearly 130 workshops across the country have been held. It is expected by year’s end that number will exceed 200. Roughly 1,000 producers have attended these workshops. It is our hope that another 2,000 producers will have gone through the course by the end of 1996. This past March, the NPPC delegate body at the 1996 National Pork Forum approved a resolution requiring all delegates before the 1997 National Pork Forum to have gone through an EAP workshop. A monumental step for an industry who several years ago would have balked at the suggestion.

The Environmental Assurance Program is voluntary, state-based program. The structure for this program places a great responsibility on the states, yet provides the flexibility needed to address state needs. Through the Task Force’s work, program focus groups and pilot tests, every effort has been made to make this program a tool for tomorrow’s pork producers. By bringing environment and economics together, the pork industry’s new Environmental Assurance Program will help make pork the Meat of Choice by the year 2000.