Everett Forkner, a pork producer from Richards, Mo., has been elected president of the 15-member National Pork Board. Forkner, the board's vice president, is the owner and president of Forkner Farms Inc., which has 550 purebred sows and markets 7,500 hogs per year. With members of his family, he also raises corn, soybeans and wheat on 2,000 acres in west central Missouri.
National Pork Board members also elected Conley Nelson, a pork producer from Algona, Iowa, vice president and Karen Richter, a pork producer from Montgomery, Minn., treasurer. All three will serve one-year terms beginning immediately.
Forkner has traveled the world to sell his purebred pigs in Europe, China and Southeast Asia. An animal science graduate of the University of Missouri, he has maintained his passion for improving swine genetics. He has served as president and on the board of the American Landrace Association and on the board of the United Duroc Association.
He also has a long history of service to the pork industry at the local, state and national level. He is a past president of the Vernon County Pork Producers and served on that group's board of directors from 1970 to 1995. He also has served on the Missouri Pork Producers Association Board of Directors. Additionally, he also is a member of Vernon County Farm Bureau and Vernon County Cattlemen's Association.
Nationally, he is serving his second three-year term on the National Pork Board. He has served as chairman of the producer-led Animal Science Committee. He also has served on the Niche Committee and as a member of the Nutritional Efficiency Consortium. At the board level, he serves on the Administrative Committee.
Nelson is the general manager of the Murphy-Brown LLC Midwest operations with 89,000 sows and markets 3.7 million hogs a year. He also owns a 4,400 head wean-to-finish operation. Nelson is a graduate of the Pork Checkoff's Leadership Academy and is serving his second three-year term on the board. At the state level, he serves on the Iowa Pork Producers board of directors, its audit committee, the membership and leadership committee and the swine health and animal well-being committees. He is a member of the Kossuth County Pork Producers and the Humboldt County Farm Bureau.
Richter of Montgomery, Minnesota, owns and operates a farrow-to-finish operation with 185 sows and markets 3,300 hogs per year, while raising corn, soybeans and wheat on 650 acres. Nationally, she serves on the Pork Checkoff Trade Committee and is an Operation Main Street presenter. She has also served on the Checkoff Nominating Committee, the Plan of Work Task Force and as a Pork Act Delegate. Richter served on the Minnesota Pork Board executive board and numerous committees. Locally, she is active in the Le Sueur County Pork Producers. She has held several offices including state director, treasurer and vice president and has chaired several committees including ambassador, scholarship and membership.
The National Pork Board has responsibility for Checkoff-funded research, promotion and consumer information projects and for communicating with pork producers and the public. Through a legislative national Pork Checkoff, pork producers invest $0.40 for each $100 value of hogs sold. The Pork Checkoff funds national and state programs in advertising, consumer information, retail and foodservice marketing, export market promotion, production improvement, technology, swine health, pork safety and environmental management.
Source: The National Pork Board
