Steve Weaver, a pork producer from Elk Grove, Calif., has been elected president of the National Pork Board. Members of the board also elected Tim Bierman, a producer from Larrabee, Iowa, vice president. Both officer terms are for one year on the board that administers all Pork Checkoff programs.

Weaver and Bierman were elected during the board's summer meeting at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. Their terms begin immediately.

Board members also continued work on the 2009 budget and operating plan, establishing a $55 million spending limit for 2009. That represents a 2.5 percent increase over the $53.657 million spending limit set for 2008. The new spending limit is based on estimates of 109 million hogs being marketed during 2009 at an average price of $51 to $55 per hundredweight on a live-weight basis.

Members of the search committee appointed to screen candidates to replace outgoing Chief Executive Officer Steve Murphy reported that they expect to interview their final two candidates in August and have a recommendation for the board by early September.

Weaver, who owns and operates a 60-sow farrow-to-finish operation with his wife, Pat, is serving his second three-year term on the 15-member National Pork Board and was the board's vice president this past year. He serves on the Pork Checkoff's Animal Welfare and Niche Marketing committees as well as the board's Administrative and Compensation committees. He has made more than 40 presentations as a member of the Checkoff's Operation Main Street, a program that puts producer leaders in front of local civic and public-service organizations to discuss modern pork production.

Bierman is the owner and operator of Bierman Farms Inc., a wean-to-finish operation that markets 15,000 hogs per year. He also has eight custom feeders where he manages all the pig flows. Bierman and his wife, Mary, also raise corn and soybeans on 500 acres.

Bierman is chairman of the board's Budget Committee and serves on the Checkoff's Demand Enhancement and Trade committees. At the state level, Bierman has served as president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association and has been a member of the Iowa Pork Producers Association Executive Board since 1999. Locally, Bierman is a member of the Cherokee County Pork Producers