IARN — Officials with the U.S. Meat Export Federation are lauding the success of this year’s annual conference.
USMEF’s Strategic Planning Conference and Board of Directors Meeting took place November 10-12 in Carlsbad, California. Speaking with the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network at the 2021 NAFB Convention in Kansas City, USMEF President and CEO Dan Halstrom said this year’s conference focused on many issues impacting beef and pork.
“The focus was about this record demand,” Halstrom said. “It’s not just one or two countries. There’s a lot of countries with very good demand. That’s encouraging. We also reverted to this discussion around the supply chain. We had a good panel where we had the Journal of Commerce, and the Port of Long Beach was a part of this panel. We really talked through the complexity of the supply chain.”
Halstrom says the conference wrapped up with a session focused on U.S. red meat’s remarkable success in South Korea and the election of new USMEF officers.
“Our board – and ultimately our executive committee – is our leadership that helps provide direction to us,” Halstrom said. “Our new Chair is Mark Swanson, the CEO of Birko Corporation. It’s great working with these folks. The other thing we rolled out in our meeting was our new five-year strategic plan. That’s our map going forward. Our officers and executive committee are helping steer us through that.”
Halstrom noted that USMEF presented its Distinguished Service Award to National Pork Producers Council CEO Neil Dierks. Dierks was recognized for his outstanding efforts to improve international market access for U.S. red meat.
Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network.
Pictured: Dan Halstrom, President and CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation (Photo by USMEF)
