Historical time for Iowa Pork Producers and Trish Cook

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Paul Yeager: Hey everybody, it's Paul Yeager This is the MtoM Show podcast production of Iowa PBS and the Market to Market TV show. Today we are going to talk about the greatest county in all of Iowa and maybe all across the land. Buchanan County, spoiler alert, that's where I'm from. No bias at all. We're I'm grew up on the west side. Trish Cook lives on the east side of the county and she is this year's Iowa Pork Producers Association, President. Big deal. She's the first woman to hold this role. But that's not a big deal. If you ask her. We're going to talk about women in agriculture briefly. But we'll also talk about policy. When it comes to trade and a big trip she's taking roles or issues that are coming down and what her role will be as President. As those shake out. We also set a little bit of her agenda for the coming year. New episodes come out each and every Tuesday. If you have any feedback for me, hit me up at Paul.Yeager@IowaPBS.ORG. Now let's go to Trish Cook. When it's two or four degrees, do you rock paper scissors to see who goes out and does chores?

Trish Cook: Well, for the most part, that is the role of other people on our farm. So like they don't have to do rock paper scissors.

Paul Yeager: But you certainly know that and remember those mornings? 

Trish Cook: Yes, I certainly do going out when it's dark and cold and taking care of animals.

Paul Yeager: The pig though, is one of those animals that it's only in those 1930s and 40s storybooks where they're outdoors. I mean, they've been indoors for a while.

Trish Cook: Yeah, they have and you know, it's it's great that they are the climate controlled environment that they have, they don't know that it's zero degrees outside. And when she'll have whatever it is, they're very comfortable in their barns. They've got all the food and water they want. They're happy.

Paul Yeager: What is your earliest pig memory?

Trish Cook: Well, I grew up on a diversified farm, like most people did back in the 70s. And I, the thing that kind of makes me laugh is when dad would holler in the house to figure out and then I had seven siblings, and we'd all go out no matter how big or little you are, and you'd help stand some ground and making sure the pigs can get back to where they needed to be. So yeah, that's back when the hugs are an outside lots.

Paul Yeager: I didn't think the pigs ever got out. I thought that was just the cows job to get out.

Trish Cook: Yeah, the cattle got up to I was much less afraid of the pigs and the cattle had to be a little bit bigger kid to come out of the house to help with us so

Paul Yeager: so you have memories of of petting back in the animals. what point did you decide that this was something you wanted to do full time?

Trish Cook: Well, it really wasn't until I actually started my career after college. And we started our family. My husband farmed right away after college with his dad and his uncle and his grandfather. And that was always his dream to be able to farm. And my career path was I studied accounting and I wanted to go work somewhere and do that. And we'd had our third child, life gets a little busy when I was driving Cedar Rapids, which is about 25 miles and his work was here. And our farm was growing, it just kind of was the good opportunity for me to transition from working full time off farm to at that point, just kind of part time on farm and raising our family.

Paul Yeager: You know, when you get outside of the man to man defense and have to switch to zone it it changes, right? Yes, it does. Yeah. So accounting and the business side has always kind of been of interest. Was it always agricultural business that was of interest to you?

Trish Cook: No, I did not work in agriculture business till I came back to our farm. I work for like a large avionics and communication company where I did financial planning and analysis.

Paul Yeager: What is the correlation between a large company and a small farm that turns medium or large?

Trish Cook: Yeah, you know, I did a lot of forecasting of cash flows and things at that job. So I brought that with me to this because it's just you always kind of got to know not just where you're at, but where you're going. And what's the roadmap to get there. So that's been a great tool that I've been able to bring to our farm.

Paul Yeager: So at what point Trish, did you decide I want to get into policy and boards and and start serving that way?

Trish Cook: Yeah, we had been involved with our county level organization of pork producers, basically since we got married. I moved about 20 miles from where I grew up, but it was a different school district, different towns. I didn't really know a lot of people my husband was from here. So it was a great way for us to get to know people in our community people who were had similar interests that were farmers. and some of the people we met our first year on our local Pork Board are our very best friends today. So that's just really kind of a fun, fun story. But yeah, so that's what's kind of sparked my interest in the pork industry. And then kind of the more you do, sometimes the more you want to do, or the more people ask you to do, I just tend to I like to be involved. I don't just want to be a member by name only. And something I like to dig in and, you know, do things.

Paul Yeager: So when you came into Buchanan County, I left Buchanan County, so we're the one for one trade. So I work out when you're at these meetings, and you're looking around the rooms, who's in those rooms? Who are these people that are on these boards?

Trish Cook: You know, the hard part about being on a board when you're a farmer is you need somebody at home, taking care of animals, because they need attention every day. So well, a lot of people want to serve in that role, and that everybody has the time to do that, or the support system back at home to get that done. So there is a lot of variety on the board. Now we've got people in their 20s, we have people who are retired, we've got men and women, we've got quite a bit of of, you know, interesting backgrounds for everybody.

Paul Yeager: And that makes the discussions fun. It does,

Trish Cook: because because not every farm, actually, there's really no two farms that are organized exactly the same will have a common goal and a common interest. But they're all very different. And how the makeup of them are,

Paul Yeager: in more ways than one we will talk in our office about your neighbor isn't necessarily your competitor, because they are in a different situation of what they're trying to grow or produce. But it also gets down to what's their financial situation, they might be more leveraged than you are, they might be more cash. Everybody's different.

Trish Cook: That's right, everybody's different. And all I ever really know is what our situation is.

Paul Yeager: At what point did the state interest come?

Trish Cook: I had gotten involved with some, the state had like they called it like a Leaders Program. So they invited people to apply who were interested in maybe getting more involved on state committees or state boards. And that was a very good learning. It was like a year you did some work with public policy, you visited the statehouse in Iowa, talked about issues at the state level, we went to Washington DC, talk about issues at the federal level that affected pork, just talk to us had a lot of speakers come in about in the industry. So from there, I kind of like oh, yeah, this is something I'm really interested in. And I joined a promotions Committee, which this the state association for our work has a large number of committees where producers can be involved in and it doesn't take, you know, it's not like a full time job or board meeting once a month. Sometimes it's once or twice a year. But it's great to have the input of producers from all across the state. So I did promotions committee for six years. And then the nominating committee asked me if I would put my name on the ballot to run for the region that I live in. And I'm like, Yeah, that sounds like something I'd be interested in. So that was this is my fifth year on the board. 

Paul Yeager: So yeah, I was gonna I was gonna say somewhere in that five to 10 year range is how long you've been involved at this level. So what have been the biggest issues in the in this time, up to this point?

Trish Cook: Well every day, there seems to be something maybe different that pops up. And I wouldn't always call everything issues. But you know, we're always concerned about animal health. foreign animal disease is top of mind for every pig producer in the United States in the world, trying to keep African swine fever, which is really decimated the hog industry in China and in Eastern Europe. It's been in North America in the Dominican Republic. So we're just really trying to be diligent supporting state initiatives and federal initiatives for biosecurity. I'm sure you've heard of the Beagle brigade, but I don't know if a lot of your listeners have but it's, you know, these beagles that are trained to sniff out me in ports of entry to the United States, a lot of them are airports. And so there's a handler in this really nice Beagle. He's just walking around sniffing and if he stops by you, you've got something in your bag that he wants his handler to investigate. And they've really been able to find a lot of meat that has been coming into the US and it's not all with ill intent. People just maybe bring a sandwich or something. But we don't want that meat to come into the United States because it's not coming through proper channels.

Paul Yeager: And so where are these beagels at? Is this US airports or other foreign airports?

Trish Cook: Definitely at US airports. Customs and Border Patrol, work with them and they're trained leave in, in Puerto Rico, but I've heard of some some folks I Either there a lot of times, obviously international airports because that's the concern. It's it's me coming in from outside the United States. But yeah, the Beagle brigade and we've really worked to try and get funding for them over the years and when we do our fly in this twice a year to Washington DC that's we're now we're saying thank you because the funding has has gotten to where it needs to be. So, men, a lot of people probably seen these bagels at the airport and don't know what they're sniffing for but the bagels specifically are sniffing for meat products.

Paul Yeager: Well, I always think at the airport, I get a little hood no matter what when I see the German Shepherd walking along I suppose a beagle kind of puts you at ease when you see that vehicle going through.

Trish Cook: Yeah, and kind of interesting tidbit about them. As all these Beagles are actually risk keeping animals. So they've been brought from shelters, but they chose beagles is because there tend to be like you said, they're not an intimidating animal. So they work well.

Paul Yeager: I like the idea of production ag, not saying production, but the Beagle brigade. It reminds me of when you talk about issues that have happened in the last five years, I think at the Iowa the world pork Expo has been canceled for a couple of reasons. African swine fever was one of them, there was concerns of bringing some type of illness from foreign visitors domestic domestic, those shows that's a tough decision that had to be made at that time, because you're there to promote the industry. But you're also trying to keep the industry safe. I guess I'm not asking you to relive those discussions, but you understood the gravity of them at the time, right?

Trish Cook: Yeah, those were really important in the Pork Expo is actually put on by the National Pork Producers Council. And we did have members from Iowa on the council. And they also serve as members of as the on the board of Iowa Pork. And so I do remember being in meetings where they had the discussions, and a big part of that was at the time of Pork Expo, they also would have a live youth show. And now those are separate events at separate locations. So those live animals are not on the State Fairgrounds at the same time as all the international visitors for Expo.

Paul Yeager: Right now. I do know the groups are separate, but it's still it's an overall issue that the industry did you have to probably answer questions from producers, that you know, who can personally text you and say, Trish, what's the deal? And you have to kinda, even though you don't really know you have to, you have to find out.

Trish Cook: Yeah, I think, you know, with ASF, when that was coming around, there's still a lot of unknowns with it. But in many ways, it parallels with COVID and human health, and that people didn't really know where I'm sure and just took very cautious steps.

Paul Yeager: statewide. In Iowa, what do you see is, again, I keep using the word issue, but our What are topics of discussion right now that you're going to have during your year as president?

Trish Cook: Yeah, something that is kind of exciting, because we're seeing progress is at Iowa State University, the vet net diagnostic lab, if anyone's been in Ames along Highway 30, you've seen the construction going on there for phase one, and they hope to move in there this fall. So the whole time, there's been two phases of this project. Phase two is upwards of $60 million. And really exciting announcement came from the governor recently that she was going to give $40 million from some funds that they Iowa got from the American rescue plan fund. So that is a great jumpstart to the 60 some million that is needed for the video. And then the ask is going to be to the legislature for to ask for $20 million from the infrastructure fund. So that is going to be really important for Iowa State. So many samples go through that lab, not just in Iowa, not just swine. It's they really prove their value in so many ways, like quick turnaround times for testing. And it's really exciting for them to be almost into their phase one. And then if we get phase two off the ground, that's been a no, it's a big ask, and it's a lot of money. But we really believe it's worth it.

Paul Yeager: Don't we know already? Everything about the the animal? We wish the the quick turn on diagnostic issues I would imagine time is always so critical in issues like that. Is that one of the biggest factors in the importance for having this expansion?

Trish Cook: Yeah, I think you know, bandwidth to be able to do enough testing in your and turnaround is important too. Because if if a foreign animal disease comes our way, we have to know as fast as we can. And so while veterinarians might be able to, you know, to look at an animal and use their best knowledge of what it's going to be a lot of the time the only way to know for sure what it is is through through testing through samples.

Paul Yeager: What else was on that to do list for the year? 

Trish Cook: Yeah, our continuing with the topic of foreign animal disease. Secretary nag has asked for additional funding for just assistance in in preparing in the event of a foreign animal disease. So it's, it's overwhelming sometimes to think about if a disease like that hits hits North America, I mean, it's hit North America in the Dominican Republic. But if it hits, you know, the United States of America, or even Mexico, Canada, because we all have a lot of pigs, with borders with pigs crossing back and forth every day. So we just really need to continue to be diligent with our biosecurity practices for for animal disease are only as strong as our weakest link. And it's really top of mind for all producers right now. 

Paul Yeager: And I'm gonna just ask  oh, sorry, go ahead.

Trish Cook: I was even finished this topic. And I have one other thing that we're asking for.

Paul Yeager: All right, go ahead.

Trish Cook: At the federal level, this was before the public policy and trade is so important. We support the National Pork Producers Council is the organization with pork that works with our elected officials at the federal level, and just continuing to you know, free trade agreements are so important for the pork industry. And the more we can get, the stronger our export business will be.

Paul Yeager: You knew that's what I was going to ask. Because that's I do like talking trade. And I'm always fascinated by markets. And whether it's soybeans or corn. I know they take foreign trips, even at the state level, you have a foreign trip coming soon. Why Japan?

Trish Cook: So the Iowa Department, sorry, tongue twister, the Iowa Department of Economic Development is organizing this trade mission to Japan and to South Korea. And for me as a pork producer, their two countries are top five for export countries. So Japan loves pork loin like they, they import from the United States, a lot of the pork loin that we raise here. I've been in the past, I'm one of these trips to Mexico, which is was really interesting, interesting. And Mexico is a big buyer of us hams. So it's, it's I'm excited to go on this and kind of also the neat thing about it, it's not just a pork venture, but it's soybean, corn, Farm Bureau cattle, kind of barnyard friends, we are going on this trip together and Secretary neg is on the trip as well. So it's it's a great opportunity for us as producers to talk with people who are the end users of our product. We work closely with the US Meat Export Federation USMEF. And they're helping the state of Iowa to organize this trip and whoever we're going to talk to when we get there.

Paul Yeager: Well, South Korea and Japan have long been the entry points into that market in that region. And I would imagine some there's some long term relationships, they're already established. Have you had any contact with anybody? Neither those countries before this trip?

Trish Cook: No, I have not. I know that the USMEF, the Meat Export Federation, they'll have folks on staff who that's their territory, that's their areas. So they usually go with us to a lot of these meetings because they have the relationships already established. And when we go it helps him or her share the story of who's producing, you know, the meat or the corn or the soy or whatever it is that Japanese consumers are looking for.

Paul Yeager: Well, can you expand and help fill voids that may come up somewhere else? I mean, is there enough people in Japan and South Korea that want us pork, specifically Iowa pork?

Trish Cook: You know, that's a great question. And part of this trip is going to be a little bit of a learning experience for me to see. Often we'll go to a retail store, you know, just to grocery store to see what does the port Case looked like in another country? What does you know? How does How is it showcased? Or is it fresh? Is it frozen? Like what's it look like? I remember in the past, when I was at one in Mexico, there was US labeling all over the port area. And so that was just kind of exciting, this pig with red, white and blue on it. And it was, you know, product of us pork so so um, as much I anticipate learning a lot on this trip, as well as like sharing the information that I have for anyone who's interested in, you know how in the United States, we raise pork with the weaker principles and, you know, food safety is number one and things like that.

Paul Yeager: One of the things that our market analysts usually bring up and I kind of lead them to that each week on Market to Market is talking about the the China part of this equation as we have this discussion right now, Trish, they're coming out of COVID. There's this debate of well, how quickly but there seems to be some optimism that China is going to be buying some US pork and probably some Iowa pork. How do you feel about that?

Trish Cook: Well, I It's definitely a lot of reasons for optimism in our export industry. On any given year in the US, we export 25 to 30% of our pork. So it adds a lot of value to, you know, the price that we receive for our pigs. So whether it's their typical purchase of a variety meats, or they're adding extra, and then they have other cuts as well. But that's one thing that they love to get from the US. I I'm always optimistic. I never want to hang my hat totally on the China export market. But I always appreciate reasons for optimism.

Paul Yeager: Well, and you mentioned, we'll go back to Japan and South Korea and Mexico. I mean, you have three great partners there. So there's other markets, I guess it's would you say hedging your bets of sorts, right? Not putting eggs and all the same basket?

Trish Cook: Correct? Yes. And there's some other developing markets that they just don't have the population that, you know, the China's of the world do, or the Japan, but definitely some Central American countries that are definitely increasing their purchases of pork, US pork.

Paul Yeager: So trade is is a topic that's always of interest. In the United States, I will producers, national producers are still looking and waiting to see what comes out of the Supreme Court of the United States when it comes to prop 12. How often have you discussed that at meetings over the last few years?

Trish Cook: You know, that has been discussed, obviously, quite regularly, especially up until the oral arguments at the Supreme Court last fall. And now you're right, everyone's just kind of patiently waiting to see when the Supreme Court is going to come out with with a ruling. So I've heard anytime from mid fair, February to mid March. But yeah, it's definitely a top of mind for producers.

Paul Yeager: And when it comes, I'm sure you've discussed scenarios one way or the other, and on how that could be ruled and and what that impact is on producers.

Trish Cook: You're right. Yes. So I guess it's kind of a wait and see with what the what the result is going to be?

Paul Yeager: How is it that Iowa gets to be at the center of I know that the Prop 12 case specifically as a California case, but how is it that Iowa gets to be the center of the pork industry?

Trish Cook: Well, our resources that we need to raise pigs could not be better located right. So we raise corn here, we raise soybean here. And those are the two main inputs and what we feed pigs. So the geographic location of those three things all together in in the state make it makes a lot of sense to raise pigs here.

Paul Yeager: And there's a lot of pigs raised. And there's always a lot of concerns that come from those off the farm about what you're doing on the farm. What do you tell people who are off the farm about what you're doing on the farm when it comes to the hogs?

Trish Cook: Well, I think pig farmers were like kind of the original sustainability story, like sustainability is very popular, and with good reason. But pig farmers are not really doing anything different. But we've been sustainable for a long time. So we think about the circle of sustainability with the animals eaten the corn, soybeans, and the manure goes into a contained pit, that manure then gets pumped out as as organic fertilizer onto the crop ground. And people think oh, wow, do you have way too much manure. But I believe the statistic I saw was there's only 25% of Iowa's farm ground is covered with manure. And that's from all animals, not just from swine. So otherwise, people have to buy commercial fertilizers so that that fertilizer that comes from the animals gets applied to the ground, they grow more corn and soy which gets fed to the pigs. So the cycle just it just it's very efficient. And it's like it's the original sustainability story.

Paul Yeager: And 2022 that value added. Nature came with the as the the hog manure became very valuable as farmers look to find other sources for inputs a fertilizer.

Trish Cook: Yeah, sure did. Really. It was crazy. What we did not have enough manure for all of our acres. So we definitely were in a market for purchasing commercial fertilizer and the price was very high. 

Paul Yeager: You yourself, you're saying you didn't have enough for your own. Okay. And those who did have it. We're happy to answer the phone. Right? Yes. As inputs come, corn is still at that you mentioned we have a lot of corn. It's still hovering along a price as an end user is still pretty high. How do you balance both the crop side of the ledger? Let's go back to your accounting background. The two sides is you're an end user but you're also a producer of the crop.

Trish Cook: Correct and we don't raise enough so we're after purchaser we buy a lot of corn as well. So yeah, it's just Doing a lot of risk management, you know, looking at your input costs and looking to what can get for there. Let's say you're selling and trying to decide what number works for your farm. So it's never ending.

Paul Yeager: And you always have to know like you did. I think you said, You did some forecasts predicting, it's you're in your previous life, and you're trying to figure out where your price points are for profitability. And you got a pretty sharp pencil there still.

Trish Cook: Yeah, it has to get sharpened every day, right?

Paul Yeager: Sharpen or something else happens. You mentioned sustainability. Some of those who who talk and want to know about sustainability also have concerns about water. And the quality of it that comes I can't read an opinion letter to the editor section of any newspaper and not see someone during the legislative session, ask about water quality, what's the discussion in your board meetings, about water quality and ways to improve it and to be good stewards of neighbors?

Trish Cook: Yeah, we talk a lot with our Department of Ag and Land Stewardship. And we've done some sponsorship of some grants that they can give out for folks who are using, you know, buffer strips, and, of course, encouraging people to work doing cover crops, and just overall just water quality management. Yeah, I think the conversations are just things are just going to continue to work with farmers. And sometimes it's just introducing, and this isn't our role as pork, but just if you're, you know, a row crop farmer, just to look at the different methods that are available now and offered for you know, strip till or no till farming is something that will help with water quality.

Paul Yeager: Always a topic that hasn't probably gone away in your time on the board. That's right. Yes. I guess to me, it doesn't matter. But to others, it does. You're the first woman to be the president of this board. What's that mean to you?

Trish Cook: Yeah, that's what I hear. You know, to me, it's, it's not a big deal. I'm just a person in the role at this point in time. On the national level, I've seen great role models, as far as National Pork Board and National Pork Producers Council have both had female presidents, multiple ones in their history. So I think for me, it's just, it's just the timing. I'm the person that's in the role right now. And you know, whether I'm a man or woman, my concerns for the pork industry, are the same as other pig farmers in the industry. I will work with our board with staff and with producers as a team, just like on our farm. My husband, and I work as a team along with the other folks who helped keep our farm running every single day. So I think you know, yeah, they say, Oh, you're the person. Yeah. Well, no big deal.

Paul Yeager: Is this just another day till some goofy reporter starts asking you about it. But see, I see it as I am just amazed at you. I've had conversations with women on this podcast before and I think Some see it as novelty it is anything but I think women are running agriculture right now is that you've taken over? I think, right?

Trish Cook: Well, I would just say, you know, just to reiterate, generally farms are run as a team, whether it's a husband and wife or a family, I mean, most farms to be pretty, don't operate just as a solo, you know, job, there's usually too much to get done. That's not a one person job.

Paul Yeager: Well, a lot of back even 20 years ago, 30 years ago, the discussion, you know, it was always there was a very short, narrow discussion of boys are going to this girl is going to do that. That's completely out the window. Now I look at these classes at Iowa State or Oklahoma State or wherever it is. And it's predominantly, the male is definitely the minority. In those discussions, I mean, you are in all sorts of jobs all throughout sales and science in farm production and running the farm and crop production this and I think it's just made the industry better as a whole.

Trish Cook: I just think the more opinions that people have in diverse backgrounds, it really hopefully comes up with better answers and solutions to whatever we might be facing.

Paul Yeager: When we have this conversation or if when you have a conversation with somebody about your role as president in a year from now. What will you hope has been your two or three biggest things you've accomplished?

Trish Cook: Well, I hope to do that. As producers, we've continued to make progress on trade that we can get some more free trade agreements opened up. I hope we have you know, as long as a person can dream that we've got some foreign animal disease, things, more knowledge more under our belt, and I won't use the word in control because, you know, I feel like some things are always never really under control, but at least managed understood and a plan in place. If something happens that we can proceed forward. You know, our exports and things like that. So those are my biggest Top of Mind thoughts for the year ahead.

Paul Yeager: We'll have fun on the year, have fun leading those meetings and enjoy the trip to Japan. It sounds like it's going to be quite an experience and opportunity to be with those all those different trade groups on a common mission to support agriculture.

Trish Cook: Yeah, I'm really excited about the opportunity and what people I can meet and what I can learn when I'm there. All right,

Paul Yeager: Trish cook from the great county of Buchanan County, Iowa, in Winthrop. Thank you.

Trish Cook: Thank you.

Paul Yeager: My thanks to Trish. Hope she has fun in Japan and South Korea. Great opportunities when you get involved in those trade organizations. New episodes each and every week. You can subscribe or follow and be the first to know when an episode drops wake up and get your day started on each Tuesday on the MToM Show podcast. We'll see you next time.  

Contact: Paul.Yeager@iowapbs.org