OMS Celebrates a Decade of Building Trust

November 26, 2014 — 

Happy 10th Anniversary Operation Main Street (OMS) speakers and thank you for your leadership in building trust with consumers and key decision-makers about the industry’s commitment to continuous improvement and responsible pig farming. [Source: Operation Main Street]

When the Pork Checkoff launched OMS in November 2004, the objective was to “Inspire producers to inform, educate, and respond to issues facing the pork industry.” But, from the very first 13 OMS speakers to the 1,064 who have been trained today, the inspiration has come from OMS volunteers to push the program every day to make a bigger impact. In the process, they have scheduled more than 7,500 speeches and volunteered 30 thousand hours for the pork industry.

OMS speakers started by telling their story to improve the pork industry’s image in rural America and in a few short years scheduled thousands of speeches to local Rotary, Lions and Kiwanis clubs.

By 2008, they were going beyond their backyard to big cities like Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis and San Francisco, and to speak to key decision-makers including dietitian groups and county commissioners. Today, these key influencer audiences are acknowledging OMS speakers for their expertise and qualifications as professional speakers. Many of those groups now give continuing education credits for attending an OMS speech. Almost 200 OMS speeches have been scheduled at state and regional dietetic association meetings.

In 2011, OMS speakers pressed forward to reach the next generation of key decision-makers with OMS presentations at colleges of veterinary medicine and high school culinary arts classes. In just the last three years OMS speakers have scheduled more than 1,000 presentations to culinary and animal science students.

Thanks to a partnership between the National Pork Board and the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV), OMS-trained veterinarians have given almost 100 presentations at 26 of the 28 U.S. schools of veterinary medicine. Today 86 veterinarians have been trained as OMS speakers.

In all, OMS speakers have reached more than 30 thousand students.

OMS volunteers have also stepped up to the plate with local media by participating in the OMS media outreach program, which is designed to generate positive pork industry stories in communities where speakers present. The program has resulted in more than 34 million people reading or listening to the pork industry message because of an OMS speech.

Where does OMS go from here? OMS speakers will keep moving the program forward to face new and emerging challenges, and to demonstrate how the pork industry is evolving through science-based responsible, sustainable farming practices.