In 1995, the United States was a net importer of pork. “In my career, we’ve gone from being a net importer to where we’re exporting 27 or 28 percent of the value,” reports Randy Spronk, chair, U.S. Meat Export Federation. “The number on pork was $7.4 billion of pork is exported, that came from zero 25 years ago.” Spronk, who farms at Edgerton, Minnesota, wants farmers to share their story. “There’s nothing better than a farmer with dirt under his fingernails and grease on his jeans, talking about how we raise our corn, how we raise our soybeans, how we raise our beef, how we raise our pork. There’s a lot of mistruths out there and there’s nothing better than a farmer going one-on-one with a consumer so they can see the passion, see the honesty of a producer and I think that’s the way we actually avoid making mistakes in our policy.”
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