The Iowa Pork Industry Center at Iowa State University continues to work with industry professionals to offer Pork Quality Assurance Plus 3.0 adviser certification opportunities. One of those opportunities is a newly scheduled session for Feb. 7. ISU Extension swine veterinarian Chris Rademacher is reminding potential applicants that attendance at the all-day session and passage of an exam at the end of the session is required.

“Everyone who wants to attend needs to complete the two-page application form and be approved in order to attend this session,” he says. “Although the application deadline is several weeks from now, I encourage people to submit their application soon to ensure receipt in time for approval and payment.”

Opportunity to be certified or re-certified as a PQA adviser
Rademacher is coordinating the session, which will be held at the Hansen Ag Student Learning Center on the Iowa State campus in Ames. There is a 15-person minimum with the application deadline of Jan. 23, or whenever the 30-person maximum is reached. No walk-ins are allowed, and no individual spot is guaranteed until the application is approved and specific payment is accepted by IPIC. The cost is $75 per person and includes refreshments and the noon meal. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., with the session starting at 9 a.m.

Also, the Iowa Board of Veterinary Medicine has approved seven hours of continuing education credit for the session. The form is available as a fillable PDF document and as a Word document through a link on the IPIC website. People can choose the format that best suits their needs. Those who qualify and are interested in the program should download the application form from the IPIC website, and complete and submit it soon.

To be eligible to submit an application or recertify as a current PQA adviser, you must meet all three of the following qualifications:

1. be a veterinarian, Extension specialist or ag educator (defined for this program as a person who spends full time in adult education or at least half time in production training)

2. have a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree or a Bachelor of Science degree in animal science (or equivalent)

3. have two years of recent documentable swine production experience

IPIC was established in 1994 as a coordinated effort of the colleges of Agriculture (now Agriculture and Life Sciences) and Veterinary Medicine at ISU. The mission of IPIC is to promote efficient pork production technologies in Iowa, maintain Iowa's pork industry leadership and strengthen rural development efforts. IPIC focuses its efforts on programs that are integral and complementary to ISU Extension. Through IPIC, Iowa pork producers receive accurate and timely information to make their operations more efficient and profitable.