The National Pork Producers Council will offer three tours on Midwestern agriculture, genetics and agribusiness before the World Pork Expo opens on June 8.
Show attendees can choose from a two-day tour highlighting livestock, crops and agribusinesses or two one-day excursions featuring different agricultural destinations near Des Moines, Iowa. "Our goal is to enable Expo attendees to experience the diversity and importance of agriculture to Iowa, to the United States and to the world," said Bryan Humphreys, spokesman for the NPPC. "Tour participants will have access to farm managers and agribusiness experts as they get to know fellow producers. And, once the tours are completed, they all will enjoy free admission to World Pork Expo."
On June 6–7, the Midwest Agriculture Highlights Tour will take participants to see the locks-and-dam system that enables agricultural products to traverse the Mississippi River, a local soybean farm and the John Deere Pavilion agricultural museum. The group also will visit Cinnamon Ridge Farms, which feature 4,000 acres of corn and soybeans, wean-to-finish swine facilities, a beef operation and a dairy.
For those with limited schedules, two one-day tours are available. On Monday, June 6, Iowa Agriculture Tour participants will go to a Christensen Farms feed mill as well as one of the Midwest's largest food-distribution companies. Two stops at Iowa State University will include the remodeled College of Veterinary Medicine and the Meat Laboratory, a federally inspected, state-of-the-art facility that is set up for complete processing of meat animals and poultry.
The Tuesday-only Iowa Agribusiness Tour features stops at Swine Genetics International's boar-reproduction facility, Kemin Industries, a nutritional ingredient manufacturer and Pioneer Hi-Bred, a developer and supplier of advanced plant genetics.
To register for any of these tours, which includes free admission to World Pork Expo, contact Humphreys at [email protected] or 515-864-7980.
