The 15 producers who serve as members of the National Pork Board look forward each year to the direction they get from the deliberations of the Pork Act Delegates. The Delegates always let producers know their views on the important issues they and the pork industry face, and on how they would like to see the Pork Checkoff dollars invested. The National Pork Board has chosen for its theme this year, America's Pork Producers: Building A Better Tomorrow. Coming off a year in which the 25th anniversary of the modern Pork Checkoff and all that has been accomplished in that time is celebrated, the theme this year rightly focuses on the future, and what producers can do to assure a prosperous one. Pork producers have always focused on doing what it takes to get better: from producing safer meat to improving their environmental practices; to adopting new techniques that help take better care of animals. They continue each day to look for ways to improve and to build a better tomorrow.

This year's Pork Industry Forum promises some other interesting news. Producer Delegates will see how the new marketing campaign designed to refresh and reinvigorate the image of pork in the minds of US consumers introduced a year ago at this event is doing. Producers at Forum were the first to see the new campaign last year and this year they'll be the first to see the early results.

Progress in the industry's We Care initiative designed to build consumer trust in the way producers produce pork will also be up for discussion. A key component of the We Care initiative is producer participation in the Pork Quality Assurance® Plus (PQA Plus®) and PQA Plus Site Assessment programmes. Three years ago, Pork Act Delegates adopted an advisement whereby all delegates were to "commit to completing PQA Plus certification and to conduct on-farm assessments of each site in order to achieve Site Status."

The Board is getting closer, but they're not there yet. For those not already PQA Plus certified, commitment to this is encouraged. On Thursday afternoon, 1 March, you can become PQA Plus® certified; the Board will make it easy with a training session from 2:00-3:30 p.m. For those who have not yet had their site assessed, the National Pork Board strongly urges completion of the assessment immediately. If the Board is to be able to hold the pork industry accountable to its critics, it must have comprehensive adoption of PQA Plus, including Site Status, industry wide. It urges immediate contact of a PQA Plus Advisor in your area and achieve Site Status by 1 March by contacting the Pork Checkoff Service Center at (800) 456-7675.

For those who don't need to become PQA Plus® certified, still be sure to arrive by 3:30 p.m. for an interesting session exploring how the US Farmers and Ranchers Alliance is building trust in production agriculture and in the food it produces. The alliance, now supported by both of the national pork organizations and 60 other agricultural commodity and business organizations, has done some fascinating research about how using just the right words can make a huge difference in winning the hearts and minds of influential consumers. Some of that research will be seen and a few of the techniques that can help producers in their everyday conversations about the work they do will be learnt.

These Thursday sessions are open to all attendees.

Following the Producer Update Session will be a brief "Meet the Candidate" segment, during which producers will be introduced to the candidates for seats on the National Pork Board, National Pork Board Nominating Committee and NPPC Board.