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The Minnesota Pork Board recognizes Mike Patterson of Kenyon, Minnesota, as this year’s Pork Promoter of the Year Award recipient. He quickly became seen as the spokesperson for the Minnesota pork industry, and the United States pork industry as a whole, thus earning himself the Minnesota Pork Promoter of the Year Award.
While attending college, Patterson purchased his first barn. He now holds a seat on the Board of Directors for Minnesota Family Farms. Today, Patterson and his sister custom raise 2,000-head together.
Promoting on the Daily
Patterson’s pride for raising pigs and putting a quality protein on people’s plates is palpable. He actively shares his excitement of pig farming with peers on social media and face-to face, communicating animal care practices and strides in sustainability efforts. Serving on the county pork producers board as a volunteer and working his way up to the president allowed him many years of interacting with consumers at the county fair to talk about pigs and pork.
The 2020 Disruption
Once the impacts of packing plant closures hit and grocery stores had fewer product options enforcing restrictions on how much meat consumers could buy at a time, people began to pay attention and seek out answers.
Patterson never anticipated the scale to which he would be sharing his passion in April of 2020 and beyond. Local newspapers reached out once word of packing plant closures due to Covid-19 cases surfaced. Reporters contacted Patterson because he was one of the first to experience the effects of plant closures. At the time, he had 3 barns full of pigs that were ready to go to market, which “was the worst spot to be in.”
Once the email indicating the plant was closing indefinitely hit his inbox, Patterson couldn’t sleep. The battle of fighting animal welfare issues ensued, forcing Patterson to find a way out of the mess.
“I got on the phone with as many butcher shops as I could get a hold of,” Patterson described. “We put together a social media post letting people know we were looking to sell pigs to local people to buy directly.” Nonstop calls, emails, and texts resulted from the social media post after receiving more than 700 shares. Over 600 pigs were sold or donated; people stopped by to pick them up, took them to butcher shops, and Patterson, the University of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Pork Board partnered together for ground pork donations adding up to nearly 25,000 pounds of pork for Second Harvest Heartland from Patterson’s pork alone.
The only limiting factor to not selling or donating more was the lack of butcher space. Every pig sold created an opportunity for direct farmer to consumer interaction. “We were able to tell the story of raising pigs and the steps that go into getting that pork chop on their family’s table,” Patterson's wife, Rebekah, noted. “This direct interaction provided us with an opportunity to tell the pig farming story that we had never had before.”
February 12, 2021 - MN Pork Board
