World Pork Expo is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. It will be held on 5 to 7 June at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa.

The PORK Academy Seminars, sponsored by Pork Checkoff will cover the following topics:

Wednesday 5 June:

• Secure Pork Supply - James Roth, Iowa State University
• Feed Price Update and Daily Feed Efficiency Drivers - Joel DeRouchey, Kansas State University - Feed ingredient pricing and availability for the summer months will be discussed, as well as improvements in feed efficiency driven by in-barn management and nutrition.
• Protect, Prepare and Prevent: Securing Your Farm and Your Reputation - Tom M. Conley (President & CEO, The Conley Group, Inc.) and Cindy Cunningham, National Pork Board - You'd think high input prices and animal health issues would be enough for pork producers to deal with, but lately some have been challenged with hog theft and even crisis situations unimaginable 10 years ago. Learn the importance of protecting your barn sites from theft and find out about Pork Checkoff funded resources designed to help producers identify on-farm vulnerabilities, prevent potential crisis situations and respond effectively should a crisis event occur.
• Export Issues & World Markets - Becca Hendricks and Paul Sundberg (National Pork Board), Laurie Hueneke (National Pork Producer’s Council) and Dermot Hayes (Iowa State University) - An update on current US export activities and markets; a review of market access and policy issues including scientific barriers to trade; and a report on the utilisation of pork variety meats and by-products in foreign markets.

Thursday 6 June:

• Food Safety Analysis - Marcos Rostagno, USDA/ARS, Purdue University - Food safety is a complex multifactorial challenge encompassing different issues, as well as perceptions and attitudes. From the simple occurrence of foodborne pathogens to the complicated antimicrobial resistance public health risk, food safety has become a critical component of pork production. This session will discuss pork safety along the farm-to-fork continuum; how producers to consumers are keeping food supplies safe; and potential food safety issues in alternative pork production systems.
• Swine Influenza - Joseph Connor, Carthage Veterinary Service, Ltd
• Reproductive Decision Tree - Don Levis, Levis Worldwide Swine Consultancy - The National Swine Production Guide allows producers to address challenges in the breeding barn by using a decision tree to reveal information about the problem and suggest corrective changes in management practices.
• Industry Productivity Analysis - Ken Stalder, Iowa State University - Data collection results from 2005 through 2012 on sow and production traits, changes in production traits over time, industry productivity in 2012 and benchmarking key productive traits.
• Sow Housing - Harold Gonyou (Prairie Swine Centre), Don Levis (Levis Worldwide Swine Consultancy) and Ron Bates (Michigan State University) - A review of on-farm scenarios demonstrating how decisions will differ to optimize animal care and welfare; and resources to help you decide which alternative sow gestation housing types could work on your farm.

For further details on the times and locations of these events, click here.

For information on the Business Seminar programme, click here.

For general information about World Pork Expo 2013, click here.