Raising quality pork is truly a family business for Swanson’s

I’m sure many of us have enjoyed delicious Iowa pork at our dinner tables. Whether it’s chops, loin, ribs or roast you simply can’t go wrong with the flavor and quality. And who doesn’t enjoy bacon or ham for breakfast. But have you stopped to wonder what it takes to bring that product to your table? It doesn’t just come from the grocery store, as it takes the skill and dedication of the state’s pork producers to allow you to enjoy the fruits of their labor. During this month, we will use this story to first look at what it takes to raise the pork, and follow that up by talking with a processor to complete the picture of the ‘farm to fork’ story.

The Stuart and Lori Swanson family of rural Galt are the third generation to work this land and raise livestock. While his family lives four miles east of it, the farm where the pork is raised is where his grandfather started farming and now has been operated by his father and mother Ron and Florine for 50 years.

“Dad had sold his livestock, so I started getting into raising pigs when I came back to the farm in 1992,” said the 1990 ISU grad and previous program director for the Iowa Pork Producers Association. While livestock has always been important to Swanson, pigs were where his interest seemed to lie. “I’ve always been interested in agriculture,” said Swanson. “I also had more interest in livestock than my dad. When I came home, I was labor. I enjoyed the pigs, and I liked that I got to call the shots from day one. I get to see the results of my labor every six weeks, and I like the physical part of it.”

While the elder Swanson had his own tillable ground that he owned, Stuart had rented acres to work. “We each had separate operations,” said Swanson. “I relied on dad to make the decisions.”

Read the full story in the October 19 edition.