"Pork, the Other White Meat" has been around since 1987. For some, this statement has been around longer than they have been alive and for others, they might remember when this ad campaign hit the air waves. The Pork industry has recently released its newest ad campaign of "Pork: Be Inspired" hoping to appeal to the consumer who already enjoys pork but is looking for a little inspiration on the variety of dishes that can be made with pork.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture 2007 census, the Pork industry in Iowa ranks second in total sales among agricultural commodities with sales of 4.8 billion from 8,758 farms. The industry amounts to 23.6% of total agriculture sales for the state of Iowa behind grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas which accounts for 49.6% of all agricultural sales in Iowa.
With pork being one of the leading agricultural sectors in the state of Iowa, Iowa being number one in the nation for number of hogs and number one in pork exports, it is important to continue to have strong consumer demand for a product that is so vital to the state of Iowa. Agricultural sectors are all tied to one another and rely on the continued success of each other for continued support and growth. The pork industry relies on the corn and soybean industry for feed inputs. In return the corn and soybean industries rely on the demand of feed inputs to maintain demand for their product.
The hope of the pork industry with their new ad of "Be Inspired" is to maintain and raise the demand for pork products. This increased demand for pork will then have a trickle effect of demand to other industry sectors in agriculture, not to mention the effects to other industries outside of the agricultural spectrum.
As a final thought, one also has to think about the substitution effect. With an increase in the consumption of pork, which industry or industries will experience a decrease in their demand(s)? It will be interesting to see the effects of "Pork: Be Inspired" and what responses will be made by other industry sectors.