June 14, 1999

The National Pork Producers Council has created a national database in Ames, IA, to house standardized production and financial information from pork producers. The database is to measure industry performance.

"For the first time in U.S. agricultural history, it is now possible to combine data and information from separate production and financial systems into comprehensive decision support and business analysis systems," said Earl Dotson, NPPC vice president. "This will allow pork producers, lenders and industry leaders to assess the financial and production position of their business compared to similar type systems."

NPPC will implement and maintain the database. All information will be kept confidential. Producers may contribute data and use the applications available through an internet connection. Submissions will go through a filtering process to make sure errors do not enter the database. Once information is contributed, secure access will be provided a range of benchmarking, data comparison and data mining functions through a modem and web browsers.

It will be located at the new National Swine Research Center at Iowa State University in Ames.