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Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA) director Chris Chinn (left) and Missouri Pork Association executive vice president Don Nikodim at MDA headquarters in Jefferson City on October 6, 2022 (file photo from 939 the Eagle's Brian Hauswirth)

Governor Parson: Missouri’s pork industry contributes $1-billion annually to the state’s economy

Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA) director Chris Chinn (left) and Missouri Pork Association executive vice president Don Nikodim at MDA headquarters in Jefferson City on October 6, 2022 (photo from 939 the Eagle’s Brian Hauswirth)

Missouri’s governor has signed a proclamation recognizing October as pork month.

State department of Agriculture (MDA) director Chris Chinn has presented the proclamation to the Columbia-based Missouri Pork Association (MPA). MPA executive vice president Don Nikodim describes pork as a great value and a versatile product.

“If you check around at most of the stores, you’ll see that there’s a lot of really good features on pork. The fact is that pork is a great value. I mean just about any cut you want to get and it works wonderfully. And we encourage people to eat pork, eat it often and you can’t eat too much,” Nikodim says.

The governor’s proclamation notes the pork industry contributes more than $1-billion annually to the state’s economy. Nikodim tells 939 the Eagle that Missouri’s pork producers are concentrated in areas that produce a lot of grain.

“I think if you look at the jobs, it’s 25 to 30,000 jobs made responsible by the pork industry in the state. And it’s a $1-billion plus a year on annual economic impact, so it’s significant,” says Nikodim.

The Missouri Pork Association served a pork lunch last week to MDA employees to thank them for their service. Director Chinn credits pork for allowing younger Missourians to move back to their family farm.

“There’s been many families across the state of Missouri that have brought the next generation back home to their family farm because of the pork industry. It plays such as important role in food security, not only for our state but for our nation,” Chinn says.

Missouri ranks sixth or seventh in the nation in pork production, depending on the month.

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