Tyler Bettin, Producer Education Director s1

Jan. 29, 2015

Contact: Tyler Bettin, Producer Education Director (800) 372-7675, [email protected]

For Immediate Release!

Past IPPA Environmental Steward award winner adds Master Pork Producer Award (CLIVE, Iowa) — A Carroll Co. hog farmer and agribusinessman has been named a 2014 Master Pork Producer by the Iowa Pork Producers Association.

Aaron Juergens of Carroll received the brass belt buckle, emblematic of the award, at the Iowa Pork Congress Banquet in Des Moines last night. The honor included a brief multi-media presentation of Juergens’ hog business.

Juergens is the Iowa director of operations for GSC Agribusiness. He provides oversight and management of the company’s swine operations while incorporating a vertically integrated approach with the resources of GSC Juergens Feed, a Carroll trucking and feed company that he also manages.

The GSC farrowing operation consists of approximately 8,500 sows in four separate facilities. More than 200,000-head are marketed annually. The swine operation involves more than 100 employees and 35 contract growers.

Aaron also is co-owner of Twilight Investments, LLC, a fertilizer and facility management company. The firm applies more than 50 million gallons of manure a year in western Iowa and manages eight barns with more than 20,000 finishing spaces for Murphy-Brown and six barns with 30,000 spaces for GSC Livestock.

In 2009, Aaron and his brother, Peter, received the IPPA Environmental Steward Award, followed by the National Pork Industry Environmental Steward Award in 2010. In 2011, they were recognized with the first ever Environmental Leader Award by the state of Iowa. Aaron is an active Operation Main Street speaker and has completed the Pork Leadership Institute and the Leadership Iowa programs. He currently serves on the IPPA Producer Education and Finance committees and is a board member of the Carroll Area Development Corporation.

Aaron earned a business management degree from Loras College in Dubuque and started his career with Juergens Produce and Feed Company in 2001.

Juergens was recently engaged to Chelsey Huegerich.

Nominated by their neighbors and peers, Master Pork Producers are recognized for their innovation, attention to quality, efficiency and production records within their farm enterprise. They are considered industry leaders who are committed to producing the highest quality pork products. Their operations are environmentally sound, they care about the livestock, are good neighbors and active in their community.

IPPA and Iowa State University have carefully selected Master Pork Producers every year since 1942. -30-