IARN — The U.S. Meat Export Federation’s annual strategic planning conference and board of directors meeting wrapped up last Friday, November 12th with the election of new USMEF officers.
Mark Swanson, chief executive officer of Birko Corporation, is the new USMEF chairman. Headquartered in Henderson, Colorado, Birko provides cleaning and sanitation chemicals and equipment to the food industry, with much of its business centered on the protein sector.
“The food safety aspects of U.S. beef, pork and lamb production is without question the pinnacle of any food safety environment across the globe,” Swanson said. “The value that the U.S. industry places on food safety sets the U.S. meat export efforts apart from anybody else, primarily because nobody can match the food safety environment and rigor that the U.S. applies to their food safety practices.”
Since joining USMEF in 2008, Swanson said Birko has benefited significantly from the federation’s expertise and from the contributions exports make to the growth and profitability of the U.S. red meat industry.
“The reason we became involved with the U.S. Meat Export Federation is as a critical supplier to the industry, we know that exports are an absolutely vital part of growing the industry and making the industry much more viable and profitable,” Swanson said. “As a supporter to the industry, we wanted to make sure that our contributions to assisting all of our customers is paramount in helping them grow their overall revenue stream and the profitability of the overall industry. Our support for our customers is what drove us to assist with USMEF and their quest to grow meat exports.”
Swanson heads an officer team reflecting the wide range of USMEF membership sectors. Dean Meyer, a corn, soybean and livestock producer from Rock Rapids, Iowa, is the new USMEF chair-elect, and Edgerton, Minnesota, pork producer Randy Spronk will serve as vice chair. The newest USMEF officer is Secretary-Treasurer Steve Hanson, a rancher from Elsie, Nebraska.
For more information, visit usmef.org.
Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network.
Pictured above: (left to right) The 2021-22 USMEF officer team: Secretary-Treasurer Steve Hanson, Vice Chair Randy Spronk, Chair-elect Dean Meyer and Chair Mark Swanson
