Producer Profile

Tommy and Vicky Porter — Porter Farms

Tommy and Vicky Porter own Porter Farms, a 2200 sow, farrow to wean operation in Concord, NC. They have been raising hogs since 1992. They are currently a contract farm with Murphy Brown.

The Porters believe the greatest challenge they face as pork producers is to maintain production at a level of profitability. Always on the horizon are issues regarding regulations that affect pork producers. As for the greatest challenges facing the hog industry, as a whole, the Porters believe those are legislative issues, feed costs, transportations costs and environmental pressures.

“These will all continue to escalate and to affect the way in which we as hog producers conduct our business. We need to continue to educate the public about food safety and nutrition, and the importance of it being grown in the United States,” they said.

In addition to their hogs, Tommy and Vicky also have four pullet houses under contract with Tyson Foods. They have a commercial beef herd, cow/calf operation that consists of about 270 brood cows.

Tommy serves as county president of Cabarrus County Farm Bureau and is a Director of Carolina Farm Credit. He also serves on the planning and zoning board in the county and is a county Soil and Water District Supervisor.

Vicky chairs the Voluntary Ag District in Cabarrus and serves as an advisor on the Farm Service Agency.

In 1999 the Porter family was honored as the North Carolina Conservation Farm Family of the Year. Tommy and Vicky have both worked very hard to spread the word about preserving farmland in their county as well as across the state.

Tommy and Vicky have three children, Derek 26, Jared 24, and Erin 19.

Vicky was kind enough to share her favorite pork recipe with us. “My favorite pork dish is grilled pork tenderloin,” she said.

Here's the simple but delicious recipe:

Microwave ½ jar of peach preserves with 2 tbls. Lite soy sauce, set aside.

Grill pork tenderloin on aluminum foil until almost done, brush preserve mixture on tenderloin and finish cooking until doneness is reached.