Through my 46 years in the business, I’ve witnessed some key changes. Today, across essentially all proteins, the live animals are being harvested at 50 percent to 80 percent heavier weights and consuming 30 percent or so less feed per pound of gain.

In February 2017, editor-in-chief Andy Hanacek visited with Thomas Shelton, chairman and founder of Case Farms, for an exclusive interview at his home. What follows is a portion of their discussion on the company’s past, present and future:

I joined The National Provisioner in 2004, and after a couple weeks of learning the lingo and conducting a few phone interviews, I made my way out to my first-ever visit to a meat plant.

As someone with decades of experience on several trade magazines, including five years with The National Provisioner early in my career, I can attest to my mother’s genuine love of the meat industry.

As The National Provisioner (NP) celebrated its 100-year anniversary in April 1991, industry was struggling to meet ever-changing consumer demand for more … safer products, further value-added products, higher-quality products plus more convenient products and packaging.

When Andy recruited me to relive my tenure as a journalist covering the meat industry for a special issue commemorating The National Provisioner’s 125th anniversary, I knew squeezing an abundance of memories, experiences, joys and sorrows into a few hundred words of copy would be challenging.

Since serving as editorial director of The National Provisioner and Meat & Deli Retailer, plus editor of the latter publication, in the early to mid-2000s, I, too, became a tiny thread in this massive, ever-growing NP editorial quilt.

Just as music radically changed during this twenty-five year span, so did American consumers — and particularly their demand for meat products.

In a business where the only constant is change, 125 years as a leading industry publication is a truly remarkable accomplishment.

Satisfying America’s meat needs during The National Provisioner’s (NP) first 50 years (1891-1941) in publishing was a monumental task.