New IPPA president continues family legacy

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A fifth-generation hog farmer was seated as Illinois Pork Producers Association president during its annual meeting at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

President Katie Brown and her husband, Ethan, are wean-to-finish contract growers and grain producers in Christian County in central Illinois.

They have two sons, Andrew and Tyler. She’s also associate director of research and development at The Maschhoffs.

Brown is active in her community, serving as treasurer of the Parents in Education Committee at her children’s school, and takes an active role in her county’s Farm Bureau Young Leaders program.

She has served on the IPPA board of directors since 2020. She was the 2009 IPPA state ambassador and was the county ambassador for many years prior to being named to the state post.

Brown earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in animal science from the University of Illinois.

Her parents and grandparents are all very active in the pork industry and that is where her love for the industry started.

“I grew up in the industry and this has been where I’ve been my entire life,” Brown said. “My grandma and grandpa were pretty active in IPPA. We had a farrow-to-finish operation when I was growing up. I think we topped out at about 1,000 sows.”

Legacy Continues

In carrying on the family’s legacy of service and pork promotion, she made the leap to become involved in the IPPA board in 2000.

“I would say I decided to become involved in IPPA because I wasn’t busy, but that would be a lie. I was pregnant with my second son. I was growing my career at The Maschoffs in the research department, and I thought, well, why not? Let’s get on and give back to the industry that gave so much to me,” she said.

Brown was asked about the importance of IPPA and what the organization means to pork producers.

“It’s very important. The pork industry has really changed. Our organization was quite large when I was growing up and you’ve seen over the years it’s kind of decreased in farms that consolidated or changed, and it’s become a very close-knit industry,” she said.

“I think that the Illinois Pork Producers provide a really good representation on a local scale and on a national scale of being a voice for those producers that sometimes are really busy and sometimes we can’t get out of barn to go talk to our local representatives. The organization does a really good job of making sure that our voice is still heard.”

Commodities Intertwined

Illinois’ pork industry is also very important to corn and soybean growers who don’t raise livestock on their own farms, and vice versa.

“I have the added advantage because my husband and I grow corn and soybeans. So, I like to see it from both sides,” Brown said.

“It’s kind of interesting, whenever corn and beans prices are lower, I’m like, well, all the feed is pretty cheap right now, but then you have the flip side of that when corn and soybean prices are pretty high. I get it, I get to see it from both angles, but both are really important. If we think about the pork industry, they eat a lot of the corn and soybeans that are in their backyard.”

Brown is looking forward to serving as IPPA president.

“I’m excited. I got on the board in 2020 and I didn’t think that I would be going on executive committee and things kind of fell into place. I told myself, I have three years to get ready, I’ll have two years to get ready — and then it’s here,” she said.

“I’m excited to represent Illinois pork producers and especially growing up in the industry and now being president. I get to be the voice that I heard when I was growing up.”

Goals

Her top goal during her term is to make sure that all producers are represented in the organization.

“The industry has kind of changed from independent producers and into this production partner model, and I see a lot of times that those production partners are maybe not as connected with the industry or with the association as they should be. If I do anything over this year it’s that I make sure that they realize that they are as much a part of this association as I am,” she said.

“One of my big priorities for next year is making sure that everybody is well represented and then, if they have any issues or any concerns, that I’m the voice that can take the time to go and do things like go out to D.C. or talk to local legislators.”

Brown was asked how she believed the landscape of the industry has changed over the last five years.

“Over the last five years we have seen drastic changes in the industry. From COVID to the struggle to find labor and bring people into the hog industry, we have certainty seen some ups and downs,” she said.

“That being said, what I have truly seen is how resilient hog farmers are. The landscape has shifted, but we are adapting. We have found new avenues for labor, we figured out how to slow-growth pigs when supply chains shut down and came out once again caring for our pigs to the highest standard.

“Change has come in many different ways, but the most exciting thing for me is the adaptation to technology. We have seen new controllers, applications that simplify sow farm data collection and even camera systems that can count pigs on the run. I’m excited to see what the next five years hold.”