Case Study: Activists – Stirring Active and ‘Hostile’ Discussions
Lee J. Johnston
Dr. Johnston has been a faculty member in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Minnesota since 1988 and has reached the rank of Professor. He is located at the West Central Research and Outreach Center in rural, western Minnesota. Dr. Johnston’s current responsibilities include delivering educational programs to pork producers and other industry professionals, conducting swine nutrition and management research, and supervising the West Central Research and Outreach Center’s swine research unit. His primary research interests are nutrition and management of the sow, feed ingredient evaluation, renewable energy use in pork production, and management of systems for pork production. As a part of this work, Lee has published 159 scientific papers, 210 scientific abstracts, 7 book chapters, and secured $10 million in research support. Dr. Johnston served as Director of Operations for his research center for over 12 years. In that role, he oversaw budgets, personnel, communications, and community relations of the Center and its research programs that included agronomy, dairy, horticulture, renewable energy and swine. Lee was named the Distinguished Alumnus by the Penn State Department of Dairy and Animal Science in 2014 and that same year was named a “Master of the Pork Industry” by National Hog Farmer magazine. Dr. Johnston received his B.S. in Animal Production from Pennsylvania State University in 1982, his M.S. in Swine Nutrition from Texas Tech University in 1984 and his Ph.D. in Swine Nutrition and Management from Michigan State University in 1988. Dr. Johnston and his wife, Judy, live on a small farm in Morris, MN and operate a small flock of Dorset ewes. Lee and Judy have a daughter and son that are graduates of the University of Minnesota’s Department of Animal Science and are employed in agriculture.
Robert Thaler
Dr. Thaler has been a faculty member in the Department of Animal Science at South Dakota State University since 1988 and has reached the rank of Distinguished Professor. He is one of two Extension Swine Specialists in South Dakota and is located on the Brookings campus. Dr. Thaler’s current responsibilities include delivering educational programs to pork producers and other industry professionals, conducting swine nutrition and management research, and teaching “Swine Nutrition”, “Survey of Animal Nutrition”, and “the Vietnam Ag Travel class”. His primary research interests are nutrition, management, and areas of need that don’t fit within a specific discipline. Examples include Above Ground Burial in response to the potential need for mass mortality disposal and the impact of swine manure on soil health & productivity. He led the development and secured $7.4 million in funding for the SDSU Swine Unit built in 2016, and was a Fulbright scholar at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture in Hanoi in 2018. Bob was named the Distinguished Alumnus by the Kansas State University Dept of Animal Science & Industry in 2014 and by the KSU College of Agriculture in 2022. In 2013 he was named a “Master of the Pork Industry” by National Hog Farmer magazine, and in 2023 was named a Fellow in Extension by the American Society of Animal Science. He has also served on multiple committees for the SD Pork Producers Council, the National Pork Board, and the National Pork Producers Council. Dr. Thaler received his B.S. in Animal Science from South Dakota State University in 1982, his M.S. in Swine Nutrition from South Dakota State University in 1984 and his Ph.D. in Swine Nutrition and Immunology from Kansas State University in 1988. Bob and his wife, Karen, have 3 children Allyse, Sarah, and Noah. They are now blessed with 8 grandchildren, ranging from 8 years to 10 months of age, and try to just keep up with the chaos when the whole family is together.