SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — With a focus on relationships — new and old — the Illinois Pork Expo will celebrate the fifth anniversary of its move to a different city.
“What I love about tying these two events together is that it is a great opportunity to let our state legislators understand the impact of the livestock industry on the economics of our state,” said Jennifer Tirey, executive director of the Illinois Pork Producers Association.
The expo will be noon to 9 p.m. Feb. 4, and 8 a.m. to noon Feb. 5 at the Bank of Springfield Center, Springfield.
This year, the Illinois Pork Expo will mark five years of its move from Peoria to Springfield. That move also included combining the Illinois Pork Expo with the group’s legislative day and legislative reception, which formerly was conducted in March in Springfield.
“I am excited that the Illinois House and the Illinois Senate members are going to be in town on Feb. 4, the first day of our expo, because we have our legislative reception that first evening on the trade show floor,” Tirey said.
The legislative reception, from 5 to 7 p.m., provides a chance for producers to meet with state lawmakers and legislative staffers.
The first day of the 2020 Illinois Pork Expo starts off with business for members of the IPPA. Their annual meeting will include the farewell address from current president Pam Janssen of Minonk. Producers will welcome the new president, Dale Weitekamp of Raymond.
To kick off the expo, producers and guests will hear Allyson Jones-Brimmer of the Animal Agriculture Alliance discussing animal agriculture activism.
“She is going to talk about how to deal with activists, how producers can protect themselves, how to be aware if it’s a legitimate concern or if you need to be prepared, if someone is trying to take advantage of a situation or if they are not really representing themselves as accurately as they should be,” Tirey said.
The information is timely for producers as social media, from Facebook to Twitter to Instagram, has become more important as a tool for producers and for activists to reach non-farm consumers.
“We constantly have this battle with social media and consumers seeing bits and pieces of mistruths, so I am really excited to hear from her and find out ways that our producers can be better prepared,” Tirey said.
Dr. Ron Hanson will present two separate sessions on farm succession. Hanson, an Illinois native, is the Harlan Agribusiness Professor Emeritus at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has lectured and spoken extensively about farm succession planning, farm family relationships and farm management succession.
“I think all of our farmers always need to be thinking about succession planning and some of the obstacles that might come with that,” Tirey said.
Hanson will give an introduction to his topic on the trade show floor stage and then will offer a follow-up presentation and question-and-answer session in a conference room.
“He’s going to do a 15-minute preview and then a deeper dive for those who want to listen and then have some question-and-answer time. It gives him the opportunity to answer specific questions from producers and the short session will let our trade show guests and vendors know what’s going on,” Tirey said.
Tirey said another change was to shorten the number of educational and informational sessions at the show.
“We aren’t doing as many seminars because we want to give those producers an opportunity to walk the trade show. They can walk the show, meet with exhibitors, ask questions and talk with each other, because this is a really great networking event too,” Tirey said.
That trade show continues to fill up. Tirey said the show is at 155 booths right now with more coming in. With the Illinois Pork Expo following similar events in Iowa and Minnesota, Tirey said it’s not unusual for booth spaces to fill up at the last minute.
“We are pretty consistent with past years, and they keep coming in,” she said.
Tirey said the trade show floor will offer products and services of interest to everyone in Illinois pork production.
“I feel like there are definitely opportunities for owners, grower partners, on-farm employees, there’s something for all of them,” she said.
One of the big changes that the Illinois Pork Expo has seen is a shortened format, from multiple days to a two-day format. Tirey said the shorter length was in response to the needs of producers and trade show vendors.
“We have tried to condense it down because it is harder and harder for producers to get away from the farm for multiple days. We’ve got exhibitors who are traveling from state to state to different trade shows. We want to be respectful and not stack ourselves on top of Iowa or Minnesota, but we also want to give them all the opportunity to attend. When we had the longer show, it made it harder for exhibitors to attend from other states,” she said.
2020 Illinois Pork Expo
Noon to 9 p.m. Feb. 4, 8 a.m. to noon Feb. 5.
Bank of Springfield Center, Springfield, Ill.
Guests can register at the Bank of Springfield Center on the days of the show.