SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – As a mother, pig farmer and associate director of research and development for The Maschhoffs, Katie Brown, of Morrisville, Ill., in Christian County, will bring a three-tiered approach to her year of service as president of the Illinois Pork Producers Association (IPPA). Brown, who described herself as a wean-to-finish contract grower who is patiently tutoring her non-farming husband on  farm life, was elected 2026-2027 IPPA president during their annual meeting at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield.

“It’s a good time to be a pork producer. With meat being at the center of the plate in the new (USDA) food pyramid, what’s better than a pork chop? That’s one thing to highlight, but I’m excited to represent this industry because it is where I grew up – so I know how great it is,” said Brown, a fifth-generation hog farmer who with her husband, Ethan, are farm-raising their two sons. In addition, Brown’s parents and grandparents are all still active in the pork industry.

In her career as associate director of research and development at the Maschhoffs, Brown has had the opportunity to travel the Midwest and work with producers on problems they face in everyday pork production. With this knowledge, the new IPPA president is ready to advise pork industry policy at a state level in her new role as IPPA president.

As a pork producer and row crop farmer, Brown said she is acutely aware of the current economic split in the ag economy between row crop and livestock production. “I think that there is a balance that we need to find as an industry to see both sides succeed. I think it’s making sure that pork is priced appropriately and then also moving more pork products. I think the National Pork Board’s big campaign ‘Taste What Pork Can Do’ will hopefully increase demand for pork, and then we can just keep feeding our pigs more corn and soybeans and we’ll all make money,” she said.

In addition to her roles with IPPA and The Maschhoffs, Brown serves as the treasurer of the Parents in Education Committee at her children’s school and takes an active role in her county’s Farm Bureau Young Leaders program. She has earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in animal science from the University of Illinois.

“I think I offer a lot of different perspectives,” Brown said. “I have ownership in barns and pigs, but I also have the ability to utilize a lot of resources that The Maschhoffs have, mainly from a leadership standpoint. They really stress leadership and I’ve been able to take part in a lot of the programs they’ve had, so that allows me to help out with public speaking and helping others understand (issues). It allows me to position myself a little differently from, say, a production partner or a grower or independent producer. I can leverage a little bit from both sides but also have the awareness of owning my own pigs and barn.”

Brown, who took the IPPA presidential gavel from 2025-2026 President Josh Maschhoff during the Feb. 17 meeting, identified her top priority heading into her year of leadership as agricultural labor.

“I’ve had the opportunity on my farm to utilize the TN visa program. It’s a legal way of bringing workers into this industry that allows my family to have a reliable source of labor. Anytime we are talking about H2As and making them year-round, or TN visas or anything like that, I get very passionate and vocal. It’s something that I’m not afraid to push to our legislators to make sure they make changes happen,” she said.

Brown is also passionate about lowering production costs for IPPA’s over 800 producer-members and all Illinois pig farmers through better access and reform to government programs.

“During our annual meeting we talked about USDA loans. I think that is something I would like to push, coming from a young producer who had to take out an FSA loan. We weren’t able to completely leverage some of those programs because they weren’t quite tailored to pork production. We brought awareness to this at our annual meeting (in a form) that will go to our national pork forum. I want to push through some awareness that things might need to change on this front,” Brown said.

In an IPPA news release, Brown was asked how she believed the landscape of the industry has changed over the last five years. “From COVID to the struggle to find labor and bring people into the hog industry, we have certainly seen some ups and downs. That being said, what I have truly seen is how resilient hog farmers are,” she stated.

“The landscape has shifted but we are adapting. We have found new avenues for labor; we figured out how to slow growth in pigs when supply chains shut down and came out once again caring for our pigs to the highest standard. Change has come in many different ways but the most exciting thing for me is the adaptation to technology. We have seen new controllers, applications that simplify sow farm data collection, and even camera systems that can count pigs on the run. I’m excited to see what the next five years hold.”