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Being an advocate for farmers is her trademark.
Growing up showing pigs in 4-H, Danita Rodibaugh was shaped at a young age as an advocate for American agriculture.
The Greentown, IN, native was raised on a grain and hog farm nine miles east of Kokomo, where her Dad always encouraged his daughters and son to take part in a variety of chores.
Immersed in Swine Activities
The parental encouragement also led her to participate in 4-H, which then took her to county and state fair exhibitions. There she met early mentors Bill and Maxine Nash. The wellknown central Indiana Hampshire breeders urged her to try out for Indiana Hampshire Queen.
That led to the opportunity to become immersed in the swine industry, she recalls fondly.
Soon after, Rodibaugh gained another crown, Indiana pork queen. Back in the late '70s, that crown carried a lot of responsibility, which she says really helped launch her career of telling the positive story of agriculture throughout the Hoosier state.
"The Indiana Pork Producers Association in those days had just one staff person, Ron Westerfeld, who ran the association out of his garage," she says.
She rode with Ron to county fairs and banquets, helped call on markets, visited producers, covered trade shows and participated in numerous parades.
"It was wonderful on-the-job training for speaking and interviewing. We would take a box of pork chops to the radio station and that way we would get free advertising for the state fair pork chop tent," Rodibaugh explains.
In fact, the year she became pork queen was the first year the Indiana Pork Conference was held in 1975 in Indianapolis, IN. She helped plan that first conference and also began working with the women's pork group, the Porkettes.
Putting Her Degree to Work
Rodibaugh's bachelor's of science degree in consumer and family sciences/education has served her well in the many state and national positions she has held, and in dealing with pork nutrition, including her current position on the Nutrition Committee for the National Pork Board.
The pork industry has worked diligently to produce a quality product, and those efforts were especially rewarded two years ago with the announcement that Pork Board research had determined that pork tenderloin had surpassed boneless,...