PORK MONTH: Dinkla enjoys ‘shining a light on pork’

Growing up on a farm south of Casey, it didn’t take long for Zoey Dinkla to know she wanted to do something with her love and understanding for agriculture vocationally.

She grew up on a farm with animals south of Casey, but it was mainly cattle that she worked with up until she graduated from Adair-Casey in 2016.

Dinkla then went to Iowa State University, where she received the opportunity to do a few different internships that were mainly swine focused. This only planted a seed for her love for the pork industry, which continues growing today.

October is Pork Month, also known as Porktober.

“It’s kind of learning as I go. I was heavily influenced in college and the opportunities I had there,” Dinkla said. “I found the pork industry to be very special and very different from anything else I had ever seen. They’re a unified source to provide a quality protein.”

Not only that, Dinkla said the pork industry remains “huge for Iowa’s economy.”

Iowa ranks first in pork production, covering one-third of the production of the entire United States, making it a “powerhouse for raising pigs,” Dinkla said.

In 2020, an economic study showed that pork brought the state 147,000 jobs.

“It’s a staple, whether it’s the farmer raising the pigs, in our packing facilities, any of our larger, commercial operations as well,” Dinkla said. “As of 2020, there were 24.8 million hogs in Iowa.”

Dinkla not only has a love for pigs, she works closely related to them each day as the Producer Education Director for the Iowa Pork Producers Association, which is based in Clive.

While she has an office job, Dinkla works closely with staff at the Pork Industry Center at Iowa State and those with ISU Extension and Outreach. There are also other groups she works closely. Together, they work to make sure the pork industry moves forward in a positive and effective way. This means the industry protects against and is ready for any foreign animal diseases that could threaten, they’re assuring quality of their products and their producers are up on changing regulations if they come out.

“There are various other groups we work with who the boots on the ground people, meeting with farmers, and in their roles, troubleshooting the issues out there. We kind of stream line that through them,” Dinkla said. Right now, she is working on making sure many things are in order for the Iowa Pork Congress, which is in January.

Dinkla said that while the economy isn’t great for farmers right now, she still believes in the pork industry and is glad to be able to work in it each day.

“We’re continuing to shine a light on pork products, to put it on a family’s plate,” Dinkla said.”Whether that’s working with different consumer groups to help them promote our products, there’s a lot of good things that can happen for our industry.”