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Agriculture This Week: Farming always evolving

When you have grown up on a farm in the 1960s and ‘70s it is almost beyond belief the changes in farming we see today. 

It was a mixed farm for me, and that meant pigs and grain. 

In my youth I hauled a lot of ground grain to feed the pigs using cleaned five-gallon pails that originally were filled with some weed spray, or another. 

Looking back over some 40-years it seems like it was such a crazy thing, but repurposing the pails was pretty standard. I’m pretty sure potatoes came from the garden to the cellar bin in similar pails. 

Of course I clearly recall Dad taking plugged nozzles off the sprayer, his gloves getting soaked in the process, and then simply blowing out the nozzle with his breath. 

Knowing what we do now it’s a wonder what health problems were caused in a time we didn’t know better, or were reluctant to change. Dad lived to a considerable age, his heart giving out one day, but one wonders. 


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CEO’s of the Industry | John Prestage – Prestage Farms

Video: CEO’s of the Industry | John Prestage – Prestage Farms

Leadership, Legacy & the Future of Pork and Poultry

CEO’s of the Industry, Jim Eadie sits down with John Prestage, CEO of Prestage Farms, one of the largest family-owned pork and poultry companies in the United States.

From its beginnings under founder Bill Prestage to its evolution into a multi-state, vertically integrated protein company, this conversation explores what it takes to scale responsibly while staying rooted in family values.

John shares how Prestage Farms balances growth, culture, and innovation across both pork and poultry, and how leadership transitions within a family business can strengthen — not dilute — a company’s mission.