Allison Byrd and Dr. Alexa Lamm headed to Minneapolis Sept. 17th to kick on the Real Pork Trust Consortium (RPTC). Dr. Lamm presented to a room full of swine producers, veterinarians and pork communicators about the current state of agricultural communications. She also offered tips for increasing trust with diverse audiences using specific strategies including using audience-specific messages, meeting people on the platforms they use, and collaborating with trusted sources to deliver information. National Pork Board Chief Operating Officer, Jerry Flint, and the lead of the Real Pork Trust Consortium, Dr. Nick Gabler (Iowa State University) also spoke about the RPTC highlighting why it was funded by the National Pork Board and where we are headed in the next five years.




An entire team of researchers including Dr. Shuyang Qu, Dr. Fallys Masambuka-Kanchewa, Dr. Michael Retalick, Dr. Katie Sanders and a group of trained agricultural communication graduate students from the University of Georgia, Iowa State University and North Carolina State University conducted listening sessions with participants. Conversations covered the concerns consumers care about most when it comes to eating pork and pork production methods, how participants’ currently communicate with the public, and the biggest training needs of producers to be able to communicate more effectively. The data will be analyzed and used to inform future research and communication efforts by members of the RPTC. Stay tuned for the results!