Patrick Fleming, director of retail marketing for the National Pork Board, offers four strategies processors can incorporate to improve their pork sales.

Through the first five months of 2011, U.S. pork exports are up 16 percent in volume (916,763 metric tons) and 22 percent in value ($2.35 billion) over 2010. This is due in large part to exceptional results in South Korea, China and Japan. U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) economist Erin Daley Borror discusses the performance of these markets in this audio podcast.

Charlie Arnot discusses how earning consumer trust can lead to the development of a social license, allowing processors to operate with minimal formalized restrictions from society. In this episode, he tells processors why operating with a social license, and maintaining that license, is crucial to business and the bottom line.

Charlie Arnot is CEO of the Center for Food Integrity and President of CMA, a consulting company with offices in Missouri, Iowa, Indiana and Ohio. The Center for Food Integrity is a national non-profit organization dedicated to building consumer trust and confidence in today’s food system. In his role as president of CMA, Charlie and the CMA team work with companies and associations across the food system in issues management, public relations, strategic facilitation and marketing communications. Charlie spent 10 years as vice president of communications and public affairs for Premium Standard Farms, has worked for a public-relations agency, was an award-winning radio journalist and worked in video and film. To contact him, e-mail Charlie@cmakc.com or call (816) 556-3122.