The National Pork Board continues to channel pork checkoff dollars into market development abroad, working through its long-standing partnership with the US Meat Export Federation to build export demand — with Japan standing out as one of the program's most durable success stories.

Minnesota pig farmer and USMEF board member Gordon Spronk says Japan's decades-long relationship with the National Pork Board has helped establish the country as a reliable, consistent customer for U.S. pork. The relationship, built over years of checkoff-funded promotion and trade servicing, has translated into steady demand for American product.

"They like our U.S. quality," Spronk says.

That preference matters for producers' bottom lines. Export markets consistently account for a significant share of the value of each hog marketed in the United States, and checkoff-funded work through USMEF aims to protect and expand that demand by maintaining buyer relationships, promoting U.S. product quality, and developing new channels in competitive markets.

Japan is a mature, quality-driven market where U.S. pork competes against suppliers from Canada, Mexico, and Europe. Sustaining that position requires ongoing investment — the kind of market maintenance work that checkoff funds support through USMEF's staff and programs on the ground in the region.

For pork producers who pay the checkoff, the return on that investment shows up in export demand that supports hog prices and carcass value. Japan's status as a dependable buyer, cultivated through years of NPB-funded development, illustrates how checkoff dollars work to secure long-term demand rather than chase short-term sales.

Spronk's position on the USMEF board gives him a producer's-eye view of how the partnership functions: checkoff funds flow from farms to the National Pork Board, which contracts with USMEF to execute market development in key destinations. Japan ranks among those priorities.

The National Pork Board has signaled it will continue investing in this partnership to strengthen global export demand, signaling that Japan — and the buyer relationships built there — will remain a focus of checkoff-funded market development going forward.