By BILL SHEA

bshea@messengernews.net

A Fort Dodge farmer has been elected president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association.

Gregg Hora began his one-year term as the association president when the recent Iowa Pork Congress concluded in Des Moines.

“I am very humbled and very honored to serve Iowa’s pork producers,” he said.

“It’s really an honor to work in an industry I believe in,” he added.

Hora now leads an organization that includes about 4,400 pork producers and about 1,400 associate members.

But the economic impact of the pork industry in Iowa extends far beyond those producers and associate members, according to Hora. He said one in every 12 jobs in the state is connected to the pork industry.

He said that as association president, he will continue to advocate for best management practices for pork producers, especially regarding water and environmental quality.

He said he will also work to promote pork in Iowa, the rest of the United States and around the world. He said 26 percent of Iowa’s pork is exported, and Mexico is the biggest recipient of those exports.

Hora has been a pork producer for 27 years.

“I’m still one of the pork producers that goes out at 5 or 6 in the morning and sorts and sells my own pigs,” he said.

He was an independent pork producer for 24 years. For the past three years, he has been a contract grower for Cactus Family Farms, of Webster City. He receives young pigs that weigh about 40 pounds and raises them until they reach market weight. He said he markets about 25,000 pigs annually.

Hora also grows corn and soybeans.

He was the Iowa Farm Bureau’s regional field manager for north central Iowa for 10 years. He is a member of the Webster County Pork Producers.

He and his wife, Liddy, have three adult children.