Our visit to Iowa Pork Producer Association today was very…informative. The presentation was overall very thorough and painted a very pretty picture of the future of America’s pork production (PEDv threat notwithstanding). I found the language used by Iowa Pork to be very interesting. It was fairly consistent among the presenter and other people in the room that pork is “grown” and is eventually “harvested”, as if it is almost no different than planting and harvesting a crop. The purpose of the association, as far as I understood it, is for efficiency by placing the various producers involved in the pork industry under a single power. After hearing all the complexities involved in pork production it is not hard to understand why this would be the preferable way to organize. I found the breadth of the IPPA’s influence very interesting. For one, they seemed to control much of the education curriculum’s that aspiring pork producers undergo. I found it particularly interesting that a profit earning organization had the power to control not only curriculum, but a large amount of scholarships and grants awarded to aspiring pork producers. It seems that this would make it very difficult for someone who disagreed with the practices or principles held by Iowa Pork to exist, let alone become successful. On the other hand, the presentation made it seem that Iowa Pork has worked to help family farmers, made environmental responsibility and “stewardship” a priority, and diligently followed food safety and animal welfare regulations. Needless to say I did not walk out of there entirely convinced but really appreciated the educationally enriching experience regardless.

One of our many van discussions today during our long commutes was about the other Furman Mayx programs with a bit more wide appeal, such as Slow Cooking, Italy. I too would absolutely love the opportunity to eat and prepare good foods let alone in Italy. But when else would I get the opportunity to learn as much as I have about our domestic and global food supply. And I think Iowa will still give me the chance to do some cooking and experimentation with foods. Tonight was my first chance to do so and I started small by learning how to pan fry tofu using the same batter our wonderful “cook”, Dalona, had used to make her fried chicken. This really just made me eager to do some more adventurous cooking. Hopefully tomorrow’s visit to the farmers market will serve as inspiration.