Indiana Pork recently presented three awards to individuals who have dedicated much time to advancing the pig industry.

Mark York is the recipient of the Producer Meritorious Service Award. He farms in Wabash County with his wife Christine. Mark is a Purdue graduate, with a degree in agriculture economics, and is a former president of the Indiana Pork Board. He is active in his community serving as Wabash County Farm Bureau President. Mark and Christine were honored as the first Wabash County Farm Family of the Year by their Chamber of Commerce in 2010 and Mark received Master Farmer designation in 2017. He has also led a ground pork donation project that supports Wabash County Food pantries. 

Indiana Pork awarded its Industry Meritorious Service award to Kara Stewart. She holds her undergraduate degree from Purdue University and her master's and Ph.D. from North Carolina State University. In July of 2013, she accepted a faculty position in reproductive physiology in the animal science department at Purdue. Stewart carries a majority extension appointment working across several species, predominantly swine, and taught a reproductive management and a reproductive physiology course for undergraduates. Her recent research has been investigating nutritional strategies in boars and survival of neonatal piglets. Stewart is the recipient of the Richard L. Kohls Outstanding Early Career Teaching Award and the George Foxcroft Lectureship award for translating science into practical and usable information for pork producers. 

Nick Maple received the Contract Grower award. Maple contract grows hogs in Miami County for Oracle Pork. He is active in his community and his church, and served on the Indiana Pork Board of Directors, including serving as president of the board for two years. Maple is married with two children. 

Indiana Pork also recognized retiring board members Alan Mathew of Purdue University and Telynda Hendrickson, Farmland. Brian Martin, a hog farmer from Williamsport, was recognized as outgoing Indiana Pork president. Martin will serve one more year on the board as past president. New officers include Nick Tharp, president, Mark Johnson, president-elect, and Adam Salsbery, secretary. New members to the board include Dillon Siefert, Greensburg; Todd Rodibaugh, Frankfort; Mike Cline, Kirklin; and Tanner Smith, Hillsdale. 

Indiana Pork is a not-for-profit association representing Indiana’s 3,000 family pork farmers through the pork checkoff program.