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January 2026 Newsletter

Happy New Years!

Day 1 of 2026, and now's the time for New Year's Resolutions! This year, our goal is to share our knowledge better! Here is some educational content that our team recommends for having an industry “edge”!

How to prepare for a Site Audit

           Harvey Williams, Field marketer

 

The PQA Plus (Pork Quality Assurance) program requires every site to have an up-to-date site assessment for a location to be PQA Plus Certified. All phases of production receive the site audits to ensure the units are adequate to provide the certain level of care needed for that phase. The audits also make sure paperwork and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) follow the guideline set by the PQA and Pork Checkoff programs. These site audits have a three-year period before expiring, just like a personal PQA plus certification. Site assessments can also be required by certain packers before pigs can be marketed.


At first glance, these site audits may seem like a lot of paperwork and just an extra step. However, these audits make running an operation smoother and help with areas that may be overlooked. The SOPs allow for simpler record keeping and give guidelines for growers to easily follow. Spencer Ag has put together a booklet to easily fill out and keep all required SOPs, paperwork, and records in one spot to easily maintain and keep track of.


These audits also require a physical walk-through of the site with a PQA Plus certified advisor. This walk-through checks the quality of care of the pigs and the building itself. Areas such as air quality, pen spacing, sorting, etc. are observed. The shape of the building such as gates/pens and the chute are also observed. This ensures everything meets the guidelines set in the PQA Plus program. Some packers also have third-party audits performed at random to sites. These third-party audits often require an up-to-date PQA Plus site status along with certain requirements set in their program. Spencer Ag can help prepare for these audits by going through barns ahead of time to make sure sites are up to each packers’ standards. Spencer Ag has helped with third party audits for Wholestone, JBS, Tyson, and other packers in the past.


Only PQA plus certified advisors can administer and enter these site assessments. These audits are not set up as a pass/fail test but as a learning opportunity for producers to make positive changes if necessary to their operation. Producer PQA and TQA (Transport Quality Assurance) certifications are also needed for producers to have. These require an in-person or on-line test. Spencer Ag Center has two PQA Plus advisors on staff (Harvey and Dr. Grace) to administer these test and site audits.


Check out the PQA Site Audit form attached!


BI - Circoflex
BI - Circoflex

 AI—Room for improvement?


With Artificial Intelligence's presence in society, it has become evident of interesting applications in the agricultural industry. Looking across the scope of AI usage, people are utilizing AI to organize massive amounts of data to make management decisions based on genetics, herd growth performances, nutrition and more. BPM reports that AI usage benefits agriculture in four primary ways. 1) Increased efficiency, 2) Enhanced productivity, 3)Sustainability, and 4) Data-driven decisions. With AI supporting the data organization and certain decisions, this can free up your staff to make more moves, further enhancing current practices to improve efficiency and minimize resource usage.

 

While there may be some drawbacks, such as initial investment, technological knowledge, and integration issues between other technologies on farm, there may be more than what meets the eye. As stewards of land, there is source of concern for the exponential growth in AI usage. This means now more than ever, energy and water usage will be used by artificial intelligence. Similar to a vehicle requiring coolant, these data processing units require energy for air flow and water circulation to cool the excessive heat these machines give off. For scale of how much water, AI requires — a single 20-50 question AI chatbot conversation can use 500 milliliters (roughly a bottle of water). This usage has become a concern for many residing near these centers, as not all systems are closed-loop (meaning they reuse the same water over and over). This can impact local communities and strain ecosystems across the globe. As AI grows, more and more efforts are being made to create closed-loop, resource-efficient systems.

 

Technologies are ever-changing, so there is always room for deciding whether or not to utilize various technologies. With the information surrounding artificial intelligence, there is room for further growth, understanding, and improvement. Do you think you’ll implement AI into your farm’s management soon? 


 Thanks for your help!

Thanks, everyone, for being diligent in your snow removal this year! Our drivers greatly appreciate you moving snow to make deliveries happen on your farm. Please remember to be patient and order ahead of time with this unpredictable weather.

 Keep up the good work — and stay warm!

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