By Carol Schreiber
Staff Writer
The Nobles County Review, Tri County News, Murray County News and Fulda Free Press bring a special salute to the pork industry to our readers this week.
A team effort is underway in the Chandler-Iona area as the Prins family works together to learn about raising and showing swine at the fair. The Prins children, Cameron, Danica and Carter, are learning as members of the Chandler Hilltoppers 4-H Club and Cloverbuds what it takes to raise a prize winning pig.
The changing times brings changes to the pork industry as well. Maintaining and increasing exports and production are among the challenges that continue to face the industry. The United States exports over twenty percent of the pork produced in the country.
Several new processing plants have been opened in the Midwest during the past year. Among those is a Seaboard Triumph Foods plant in Sioux City, Iowa. Automation is helping to maintain a consistent quality for consumers in the United States and around the world.
Take a look at the zoning and permitting requirements to build a hog barn in our area and see how technology is improving the ways that farmers can use to lessen the impact on neighbors.
As technology changes, antibiotic usages have also changed in the pork industry. Another article takes a look at some of the changes.
The Joe and John Risacher families farm together in the Slayton and Lake Wilson area. Staying with them are two young men from Ufa in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia. Alekser Petrove and Rusian Khakimyanov are known as Alex and Russell while they learn about American agricultural practices through the Minnesota Agricultural Student Trainee (MAST) Program.
The state of Minnesota has been preparing for buffer law compliance over the past few years. See where the state stands and what the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) has implemented to help provide farmers with alternative practices specific to their land that can be used instead of the prescribed vegetative buffer.
There are several country cooking recipes, featuring pork as the main ingredient, which are also included in this week’s salute to the pork industry.
Enjoy the special section this week. For our electronic subscribers, the special section will be included with the October 23 issue of the Murray County ADvantage.
