At a glance, Iowa pork and the state of Florida may not seem to have much in common. But Dennis Gienger of Iowa’s Tama County Pork Producers and the Florida FFA have banded together for a common purpose: Learn more about agriculture and advocate for it.
The two groups have had an unofficial partnership since 2012 when the Florida FFA state officers began helping Gienger serve pork sandwiches at the Florida State Fair and Florida Strawberry Festival, both held in Tampa each February and March, respectively. Representing the Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA) and sponsored by JBS Pork, Gienger has been traveling to Florida to promote the pork industry since 1992, setting up concessions at Winn-Dixie and Publix supermarkets and the annual Georgia-Florida football game in Jacksonville.
“I’ve weathered the changes in the pork industry,” says Gienger. “Twenty years ago, you could just raise [pork]. Now you have to carry it all the way through and be a face for the product.”
The sandwiches he serves are really just a symbol of what he hopes to achieve — awareness and appreciation for where food comes from. “When I was growing up, everyone had a grandparent with a farm,” he says. “That day is gone. We’ve got to educate consumers.”
Now, the Florida FFA state officers serve alongside Gienger in that cause. “The first year [working the fair together], that state officer team had a lot of questions about Iowa agriculture,” says
Ronnie Simmons, executive director of the Florida FFA Association. “Some of them were not from production agriculture and were curious about how it all works.
“And Denny — he really cares about agriculture and wants people to know about it — he said to me, ‘We’ve got to get these kids to Iowa.’”
After an initial exploratory trip in April 2012, the state officers now travel to Iowa every year for a tour of the pork industry. Their stops include the IPPA office, Kinze Manufacturing, Stine Seeds, JBS and a local fertilizer plant that uses phosphate from Florida. They also help deliver pigs at Brenneman Pork and learn to drive combines at Gienger’s farm.
“They don’t just watch and hear, but they actually get their hands dirty,” Simmons says. “For them to see that firsthand… it sticks with them.”
“Then they go back home and teach from firsthand perspectives in classrooms across the state of Florida,” Gienger adds. “When you can educate kids, then mushroom that, that’s important.”
