News

Diversifying demand creates opportunities for pork industry

The senior vice president of market growth with the National Pork Board says domestic demand has slipped and that’s been problematic for the industry.  “We are seeing some of the most challenging times that we’ve seen in the industry, even more than 1998,” says David Newman.  

But, Newman, who also raises pork in Myrtle, MO, says there are some opportunities, one of which is the generational shift in consumers.  “As we have evolved from baby boomers who have carried demand for decades in this country,” he says.  “We have got to start focusing on our customers in the U.S.  That is the millennial, the Gen-Z’s, and it will then be the Alpha-Beta generation that is just now being born.”

He tells Brownfield today’s consumers prefer pork as an ingredient rather than a center-of-the-plate protein. “We need to see how that fits into multi-cultural dishes,” he says.  “Which is a huge component of this generational push that comes next.  This is why I say there is a bright spot for pork.”

Newman says multicultural consumers account for more than 95 percent of the population growth in the United States.

AUDIO: David Newman, National Pork Board