4/1/24 Meeting Minutes

4/1/24 Meeting Minutes
 
Attendees: Catti, Adam, Chris, Trevor (Sarah), Dave, Aaron, Tom, John, Katie, Aaron, Ron, Lynn, Ann, Bob F., Deb, Hubert
 
4 Way Test Review
 
Brag Bucks:
Deb – cheer for Iowa tonight
Catti – still has 2 teams going strong in Men’s bracket challenge (UCONN and Purdue)
 
New Member:
Aaron Kooiker – City Manager
Bob – motion
Aaron – 2nd
Pass by majority.
 
Programs Update:
4/8/24 – Tour of Toynes – tour begins at noon – no lunch provided.
4/15/24 – Jennifer Quigley – New Hope
4/22/24 – No speaker – Social
4/29/24 – Allen Anderson with St. Anthony Hospital
 
Speaker:
Aaron Juergens
Iowa Pork Board – Will be President in 2025
 
New rules that have affected the hog industry recently:
  1. California says sows must have so much square footage when being raised – California only does ~18% of the business.
  2. Massachusetts says you can’t transport product through the state if it doesn’t meet their specific state qualifications.
  3. Misbranding of meat products laws.
  4. Land ownership laws.
  5. Capital gains tax – getting credits on research.
  6. Regulating drones flying over areas
Constantly meeting with State and local representatives to keep them updated on pork industry so that they know what is going on and what is needed.
 
Washington, D.C. Trip: meet every Spring and Fall; main states attend and are given same topics to talk about so that representatives are hearing the same topics so that they know what the concerns are; use councils to lobby when don’t have leverage to use to debate with in the House; trying to get a Farm bill passed but everything is at a standstill until election is over; Farm bill gets passed every 4 years, but always delayed by 1 year; worried about Swine Fever making its way to U.S.; price of pork is down (lowest its been in years), exports in pork is up; 25% of pork is going international (Mexico, Japan, China); Iowan’s eat most pork per capita in the nation.
 
Columbia, Central America in December: average wage per month is $400/month; crime is low; traveled with Iowa Economic Development Authority; spent time at Embassy and sat down with Columbian government; #1 export is flowers from Columbia; they buy all of their ethanol from U.S.; a lot of people there that needs jobs; very clean there; 51 million people there; $15K is average yearly income for middle class citizen; pork is 2nd most consumed protein in Columbia; no fresh products; once frozen you can’t thaw it; tons of American products there and that was a main selling point because they know that they are safe; service in restaurants was excellent; watch consumer behaviors while they are there to watch how people buy different products and American products are constantly being bought more than other products; Brands are powerful because of the trust factor; got to experience the start of the Christian Christmas Festival; overall great trip.
 
Next week we will meet at Toynes in Breda for our tour of the facility. Tour starts promptly at 12 PM. No lunch will be provided.