LIMA, Ohio (WLIO) — The Ohio Pork Council is providing farmers with the most up-to-date information on the future of the pork industry.
The council brought its 2026 Pork Congress to Lima on Feb. 3–4. The two-day event featured a variety of speakers focused on educating Ohio pork producers on best practices, emerging techniques and ways to improve product quality.
Organizers said the convention provides valuable information that helps strengthen the health and growth of the regional food supply.
“Everything they get here, they are able to go home with something that's going to help them do their job better. And if they can do their job better, then that makes it easier for them to to keep in production. The best way you can make money is to have a healthy herd. That’s where you don't have losses or anything like that. So that's a major importance for two things on the bottom line for the farmer and also for the better health and stuff for the consumer,” says Duane Stateler, Pres. of the National Pork Producers Council.
Ohio ranks 10th nationally for pork production and hog population, and farmers say they are proud of the state’s leadership in the industry.
“So, the pork industry in Ohio is made up of over 3000 family farms that do their best every day to provide top notch care to the animals that they have. The end goal is to provide clean, nutritious, wholesome protein to Ohioans and folks across the country. Yeah. So we're super fortunate that we're one of the few states in the country that's both top 10 and overall population of both pigs and people. So that kind of uniquely situates us to be able to grow pigs where our population are. You know, our food doesn't have to travel very far to get from the farm to the plate,” says Jarred Black, Pres. Elect, Ohio Pork Council.
The Ohio Pork Council said about 4.8 million pigs are raised annually in the state, generating an estimated $3.4 billion economic impact.
