Five-Year Goal… MET AND SURPASSED

April 8, 2015 — 

It was a goal so big it wasn’t for the faint of heart. The target? Boost real per capita pork expenditures by 10 percent within five years. While industry leaders clearly raised the bar when they created the Pork Checkoff’s 2010-2014 strategic plan, their vision has become a reality. [Source: Pork Checkoff Report Magazine Spring 2015, by Darcy Maulsby]

“As pork producers, we have always set our goals high, and we don’t stop until we reach them,” said Dale Norton, National Pork Board president and a pork producer from Bronson, Mich. “We believe ambitious goals allow us to control the direction of change in our favor.”

Increasing real per capita pork expenditures by 10 percent in five years is nothing short of remarkable, according to Steve Meyer, president of Paragon Economics and a Checkoff consultant.

“We haven’t moved demand upward by this magnitude since the 1990s,” Meyer noted. For 2014, real per capita pork expenditures rose by 7.6 percent from one year earlier. That follows a 5.5 percent year-on-year increase in 2013.

“The last two years have been outstanding,” Meyer said. “December’s performance caps another great year and puts annual real per capita expenditures 15.7 percent higher than in 2009, eclipsing the Pork Board’s goal quite easily.” Recent trends, such as the rise of foodies and a passion for protein, worked in favor of pork producers.

“Capitalizing on these opportunities was no accident,” Meyer said. “You have to be positioned to take advantage of trends, and that’s what the Pork Checkoff has done over the last five years.”

Read the whole story http://www.pork.org/checkoff-reports/challenge/five-year-goal-met-surpassed-pork-checkoff-boosts-real-per-capita-pork-expenditures/ here.