Sustainability

Biosecurity

PIPESTONE developed a Wean-to-Market Biosecurity Standard and Assessment to evaluate practices relative to the standard.

Welfare

We work with our Welfare Expert Panel to implement policies and develop new initiatives focused on animal welfare and care.

Audits

We execute both internal and third-party audits to ensure we are upholding the highest animal welfare standards.

SPS Plans

Foreign Animal Diseases present the greatest risk to the animals we care for and to the production for our operations. Secure Pork Supply Plans ensure that, in the case of a FAD, any negative impact is minimized.

Responsible Antibiotic Use

The Pipestone Antibiotic Resistance Tracker (PART) has been launched to track antibiotic use in real-time and provides web-based tools for both the producer and veterinarian.

Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic resistance is a topic of concern among both producers and consumers alike. IMAGINE is a collaborative effort to study antimicrobial use and resistance on commercial swine farms in the Midwest.

Employee Satisfaction

Without a good team, we couldn’t execute our mission of Helping Farmers every day. Benefits in the top 1/3 of the pig industry, skill and leadership development programs, and ongoing employee engagement have resulted in high team satisfaction.

Training

PIPESTONE has training requirements for all employees, no matter how many years of experience one may have. We believe proper training plays a big role in making the workplace successful.

Safety

The safety of our employees is taken very seriously at PIPESTONE. Continual training throughout the year for all employees as well as working with a cross-departmental safety committee ensure that our operations run safely and smoothly for both the staff and the animals for which we care.

Community

We are committed to caring and supporting both our local and global communities. Distributing pork, supporting first responder organizations, FFA chapters, and international charities focused on fighting food insecurity are just a few of the ways we give back.

Scholarships

PIPESTONE invests in the future of agriculture by supporting families, team members and students through our scholarships.

Agriculture Education

We believe in sharing the importance of sustainable agriculture in our local communities. Through our initiatives to reach rural communities to urban communities, we are able to educate non-agriculturalists, the next generation, and individuals in our local community.

Carbon Footprint

For a sow farm, there are 6 categories that contribute to the carbon footprint. Those include feed, energy, manure, fuel, mortality disposal, and water.  We’re working on ways to reduce our footprint in each of these areas.

Feed

Feed is one of the primary inputs in our system that accounts for a large portion of our resource use. Hybrid rye research as a sustainable alternative feed ingredient to corn has shown a marked reduction in the amount of energy needed for transport and  a reduction to our carbon footprint.

Manure

The organic fertilizer produced from pig manure is one of the most vital by-products our industry provides.  We consider everything from our Nutrient Management Plans, application methods, and storage solutions to maximize this natural resource.

Energy

Continuing efforts to replace heat lamps with heat mats in stalls, shifting to LED bulbs from the less efficient incandescent or fluorescent bulbs, and updating our office spaces with motion sensor switches in low traffic areas are just a few of the practices we continue to implement and expand.

Water

We’re working to improve water efficiency by installing digital water meters to collect real-time data as well as exploring a Livestock Water Recycling program.

Waste

The expansion of our recycling program has included getting services where provided, developing in-house recycling routes that service over 20 farms where rural recycling service is unavailable, and finding logistical solutions for rural location pick-ups across our entire network of offices and farms.