Oklahoma's 2024 National Pork Industry Forum voting delegates included: Joe Locke, Travis Vaughan, Angie Johnson, Cathy Vaughan, Pati Law and Tre Smith. Delegates are pictured here in Chicago, Illinois, with Kylee Deniz and Matti Carlile from the Oklahoma Pork Council.

The Oklahoma Pork Council's voting delegates have spent the last three days representing our state at the 2024 National Pork Industry Forum in Chicago, Illinois. Because Pork Forum includes business for both national organizations, each state has two sets of voting delegates — one set for Pork Checkoff-related business through the Pork Act and one set for public policy-related business through NPPC. This year's Oklahoma Pork Act delegates attending the event were Angie Johnson, Joe Locke, and Tre Smith. Our National Pork Producers Council delegates for 2024 included Cathy Vaughan, Travis Vaughan, Joe Locke, Tre Smith, and Pati Law.

Our delegates also voted on candidates for national positions. From an Oklahoma perspective, the most exciting news is that Oklahoma Pork Vice President, Cathy Vaughan of Smithfield Foods, was a top-ranked National Pork Board candidate. The final slate of nine ranked National Pork Board candidates will now be submitted to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture for approval. We are so proud of Cathy for stepping into this national role on behalf of Oklahoma!

Lastly, remember the custom #TeamPork stereo Oklahoma Pork donated to NPPC's PorkPAC auction? We are excited to report the stereo, valued at $2,750, was auctioned off and sold for $10,000! The stereo was the highest-selling auction item and contributed to the evening's impressive fundraising effort.