DES MOINES, Iowa — While the official tally won’t be available until Friday, representatives from 38 countries were among the estimated 20,000 people who attended the 2012 World Pork Expo last week at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines.

“Ever since I first attended World Pork Expo 25 years ago, each June, I look forward to rubbing shoulders with the very best pork producers and industry leaders,” said R.C. Hunt, a Wilson, N.C., producer and president of the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC).

“They come from throughout the world to provide research updates and share experiences from their own operations, all in a fun, family-friendly environment that’s ideal for your entire team of employees.”

Sponsored by the NPPC, this year’s Expo, which ran from June 6-9, offered the latest information about pork marketing and management, legislative updates, animal health, environmental topics and other issues affecting pork production. The Expo also housed more than 400 commercial exhibits, and offered a new product tour and business seminars to producers and other industry leaders.

Proceeds from the World Pork Expo, which is the world’s largest pork-specific trade show, are used to “develop and defend export markets, fight for reasonable legislation and regulation and inform and educate legislators,” according to NPPC officials.

For the first time, Expo attendees were able to use a free mobile application for instant access to the latest schedule, a map to navigate the show and a list of exhibitors, selecting business seminars and special events to place on their personalized calendars.

Among the various industry issues discussed at this year’s Expo were trade advocacy and open housing, which captured headlines with the NPPC’s concerns over recent pronouncements from major food chains, namely Safeway, saying they would only sell pork products from gestation stall-free operations.

According to results of a survey issued the first day of the Expo, an overwhelming majority of the U.S. sow herd spends some time in individual housing or gestation stalls. Producers with pork operations with 1,000 or more sows were surveyed. Conducted by Ron Plain, University of Missouri agricultural extension economist, the survey found of the 70 respondents, currently only 17.3 percent of sows spend a portion of gestation in open pens.

“Today’s survey shows that these food companies obviously haven’t thought through the complexities, logistics or implications of their requests,” Hunt said. “Simply making an announcement without understanding the entire supply chain’s ability to meet these requests or the challenges involved is utterly befuddling. We feel it is important to have this firsthand information available to our customers.”

The survey found that 20.2 percent of sows on operations of 1,000-9,999 animals, 18.9 percent on operations of 10,000-99,999 and 16.4 percent on operations of more than 100,000 are in open pens for some portion of gestation.

Karl Kynoch, chair of the Manitoba Pork Council, whose representatives have been attending the Expo for the past seven years, said he’s been promoting trade advocacy with U.S. pork producers.

“Some of the members are down there with their own companies or with other groups as well, so we have a very good representation there,” he said. “We’ll definitely touch base with the National Pork Producers Council as we’re moving forward to resolve the Country of Origin Labeling issue, and there’s also always concern on the different subsidy programs on both sides of the border.”

As with the United States, Canada also addressed open housing, Kynoch added. “The sow stalls are a huge issue, so we definitely want to see what the producers are doing in the U.S. to look at changing their barns. We’ll definitely talk to them,” he said.

“Then as well, Tyson in the U.S. buys a large number of weanling pigs that originate out of Canada yet, so that’s very important to our producers.”

Conley Nelson, an Algona, Iowa, farmer and National Pork Board (NPB) president, told reporters at the Expo that “to understand where we are as an industry, we first needed to take a look back.” A new pork checkoff-funded study analyzed the industry’s gains in production efficiency over the last 50 years.

“This is exciting stuff for those who have an interest in how we care for our pigs today,” said Nelson, who was named NPB president for the 2012-13 term at last week’s Expo. “In 1978, a sow in the U.S. would produce 9.95 pigs per year.

“Today, through better care of our animals, improved diets and better housing, a typical sow will produce 9.97 pigs per litter – an amazing increase since sows are typically able to have at least two litters per year.”

Nelson added the research showed “the progress we’ve made over the last 50 years, but it is our commitment to continuous improvement during the next 50 years that will be critical to feed a growing population.”