BY Meggie I. Foster
Assistant Editor

GREENFIELD, Ind. — The Lewis farm family of Greenfield, Ind. recently hosted a “President’s Pignic,” in a program to expose the story of modern pork production and how it plays a role in the local community.

“As the Indiana Pork president, I often come across neighbors who question us about our operation, and I know I’ve just got to tell them my story and that’s what I’m here to do,” said Mike Lewis, co-owner of Lewis Pork, LLC in Greenfield.

While many may believe modern livestock production facilities live a guarded lifestyle, Lewis of central Indiana, opened his shop doors and invited nearly 75 guests from across the state to a virtual tour, presentation and luncheon on June 27.

The “pignic,” sponsored by Indiana Pork, entertained and educated local and state government officials, community members and local pork producers, in an effort to open the doors to a large hog production facility just outside of a well-known Indianapolis suburb.
According to Indiana Pork Executive Director Mike Platt, the goal of Building Strong Communities is to “help producers forge positive relationships with county officials and residents and to promote the importance of the pork industry to the community.”

Opening the luncheon with introductions and a family-prayer, the afternoon event featured a fitting pork chop dinner on the family’s home farm on U.S. 40 in eastern Hancock County. Lewis presented a brief video from Indiana Pork and a PowerPoint presentation in a bird’s-eye view of his family’s hog operation.

Lewis explained the business set-up, facility arrangements, manure management, regulatory requirements and facts about Indiana and Hancock County pork production. He said that Lewis Pork raises 1,000 sows in a farrow-to-finish facility, where they market 21,000 pigs annually. The Lewis farm is one of nearly 50 hog farms in Hancock County, according to Lewis.

“We also contract feed hogs in Rushville, Shirley and Mentone,” added Lewis.

Privately owned and operated by the Lewis family, Lewis’ grandfather built the family’s first confinement barn in 1955. Today, the multi-site operation is run by Lewis, his two brothers Tim and Chris, and his father, Steve.

“When I came back to farm, I knew I wanted to be full-time and in order to do that we needed to expand and be able to support all of our families,” explained Lewis. “There is about $2.5 million worth of investment in buildings and equipment here and over $1 million in pig inventory. Look at how white the walls are on the inside of this nursery, we built these barns 10 years ago and they still look as good as new.”

Current expansion goals include a 5,000 head nursery under construction in Shirley, Ind.; a new contract to buy hogs from a sow farm in Ohio; and a remodeling effort of a local co-op in Charlottesville, Ind. to operate as the farm’s feed mill.

While explaining the family’s farm operation and lifestyle, Lewis presented a variety of recent photographs of his barns, hogs and equipment, helping to illustrate the no-hiding policy of Indiana Pork and Building Strong Communities.

Even though, there was no organized group tour of the barns, Lewis closed the presentation with an offer to take individuals or small groups through the barns to see the pigs first hand and see the equipment that lies behind the barn doors.

The next Indiana Pork and Building Strong Communities event is scheduled for Aug. 25 at Belstra Milling in Demotte, Ind.
For more details, visit the Indiana Pork website at www.indianapork.com