Minnesota family earns 2009 National Pork Industry Environmental Steward Honor
Schafer Farms, Inc., of Goodhue became the 11th Minnesota pork-producing family to earn the distinction of National Pork Industry Environmental Steward.
Schafer Farms family members include Brandon and Monica, Brian and Heather, and their parents, Lowell and Pat. The brothers are the sixth generation of Schafers to raise livestock and crops on this southeastern Minnesota farm and Brandon is quite certain a seventh generation will follow.
The annual award is the industry's highest environmental honor. Judges who represent pork producers and environmental organizations evaluate applicants on their manure management, water and soil conservation practices, odor-control strategies, farm aesthetics, neighbor relations, wildlife habitat promotion, innovative environmental protection ideas, and an essay on the meaning of environmental stewardship.
Brandon and Monica operate the swine enterprise for Schafer Farms, farrowing 1,600 sows and marketing approximately 38,000 pigs per year. His brother and parents manage the cow-calf herd and the crops.
The Schafers’ take a multi-prong approach to environmental stewardship; with their overall goals including the ability pass a viable, healthy livestock and cropping operation to the next generation and to publically show the compatibility between environmental stewardship and swine production.
To protect the rolling hills and karst topography of Goodhue County, the Schafers keep much of their land in pasture for their cattle herd, and with guidance from their Soil and Water Conservation District, the Schafers have installed terraces and maintain retention ponds to minimize erosion.
Manure from the swine operation benefits both the crop and pasture land with the manure application rates matched to the fertilizer needs of the corn and grass acres. To reduce soil compaction and minimize odors, the Schafers typically apply the swine manure nutrients using a drag-line system and to reduce swine barn emissions, they continually plant trees and shrubs around exhaust fans and other key areas.
Water conservation techniques in the swine barns have resulted in a 20 percent reduction in water usage. Among practices Brandon has implemented to achieve these results are swinging waterers and presoaking rooms prior to hot-water cleaning.
To foster good community relations, the Schafers annually host nearly 200 people at the farm's "pignic." This longstanding event typifies the respect this family has for their neighbors and community.
The Schafers will be recognized by their peers at the 2010 National Pork Industry Forum next March in Kansas City, Mo.
The 15-year-old National Pork Industry Environmental Steward award program is sponsored by the Pork Checkoff and National Hog Farmer magazine. The judges select four pork operations. Other recipients were JAC Pork of Hartley, Iowa; Bryant Worley Farms of Princeton, N.C.; and Sensenig Farm of Mohnton, Pa.
Producer leaders, National Pork Board tackle budget
The National Pork Board will meet in Des Moines on the afternoon of Sept. 9, the day before more than 50 producers from across the country arrive in Des Moines to begin work on budget recommendations for 2010.
Lower than anticipated pork prices for 2009 as well as projections that producers may not return to profitability until spring 2010 have reduced revenues from the Pork Checkoff and already have prompted board members to tighten spending for the remainder of 2009. The board earlier this summer authorized a 2010 spending limit of $46.2 million, roughly 20 percent lower than authorized 2009 spending.
"This will be a budget that recognizes that pork producers are hurting and need whatever help they can get from the Pork Checkoff to market their product," said Tim Bierman, a pork producer from Larrabee, Iowa, and president of the National Pork Board. "I hesitate to call this new budget a crisis budget, but that's what it is," he said.
"The producers who will be here Sept. 10 and 11 to produce a balanced budget for the board's consideration in November have their work cut out for them," Bierman said. "There are going to be some very difficult choices and decisions."
Also on the board's agenda the afternoon of Sept. 9 is a review of new consumer research on the effectiveness of the National Pork Board's 22-year-old The Other White Meat® brand.
Board members also are expected to get an update from its task force working on a new strategic plan for the National Pork Board. The producer-led task force has met twice and will meet again later this month before making its recommendation to the board in November. The task force also has participated in listening sessions in Nebraska, Indiana and North Carolina and has conducted an online survey available to all producers.
National Pork Board meetings are open to the public.
