SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Sixth-generation pork producer Josh Maschhoff was announced as the new president of the Illinois Pork Producers Association (IPPA) following their annual meeting at the Bank of Springfield Center. Maschhoff, who owns a 4,800-head wean-to-finish farm with his wife, Angela, also manages a team of sow farm professionals and production partner finishers in southern Illinois and Missouri.

Emerging from the meeting, the Nashville, Ill., farmer met with the media to discuss his focus on environmental sustainability, animal housing and production operations. Maschhoff said that as leader of the IPPA, he will be keeping a keen eye on what’s going on in Washington, specifically with the USDA, U.S. EPA and other entities with control over agriculture.

“Things are changing day to day and week to week, especially in regard to trade. You can see the markets bouncing up and down every day. Regulations are changing, too. I think it’s important to take a step back and not rush to any conclusions, and make sure we are advocating on behalf of our industry while seeing the bigger picture,” he said.

Ensuring a strong export presence for Illinois pork is at the top of Maschhoff’s hierarchy of goals for his year leading the state’s producers. As the fourth-largest producer of pork in the U.S., Maschhoff hopes to increase Illinois’ share of the export market. Currently, Illinois exports about 30 percent of its pork production.

Maschhoff said he will also be focused on trade protectionism and ways to buffer producers against potential retaliatory tariffs. “We want to ensure a market that is sustainable and can be passed onto future generations,” he said. A special focus of the new IPPA president will be on regulations affecting the pork industry, including California’s Proposition 12, New York’s Prop 12-plus and other animal housing regulation efforts in states and, potentially, at the national level.

“As farmers, as producers, we find a way to figure out how we can overcome those challenges to make sure that we come out better in the end overall,” he said. “There are a few Senate bills here in Illinois that haven’t made it out of committee yet that we are keeping an eye on. Obviously at a national level we’re looking at how Prop 12 impacts the industry, and really pushing hard to advocate for a farm bill with a full pre-exemption to prevent interstate restrictions on trade.”

Increasing pork’s domestic market share will also be a priority for him.

“The biggest thing we can do is to figure out how we can make pork more convenient for the consumer. Domestic consumption is about 70 percent of our product, but it’s been relatively flatlined. We’re obviously putting a lot of effort into promotions, but it’s maybe not the most convenient meat to cook,” he said. “Millennials, especially, have very busy lives and home-cooked meals are not as common. So how can we bring that product to the consumer in a way that makes it convenient and not an ‘extra,’ but a part of it?”

Maschhoff, who grew up on his family’s Clinton County farm, completed his undergraduate education at the University of Illinois-Champaign and earned his MS and MBA from Purdue and Indiana universities, respectively. His family’s business, The Maschhoffs, was founded in 1851 and has grown to operate with more than 130,000 sows across five states, making his name highly recognizable within the pork industry.

The Maschhoff family farm had humble beginnings. In the late 1970s the family chose to focus on hog production by expanding their sow herd from 150 to 700. The business continued to grow throughout the 1980s. In 1996, they began to collaborate with other family farmers to raise wean pigs, further expanding the business as a contract grower.

In addition to approving Maschhoff as president, the IPPA delegates voted in Katie Brown, of Morrisonville, as vice president-treasurer and Randy Kuker, of Clinton, as secretary. Maschhoff succeeds Cheryl Walsh, of Princeville, as IPPA president.