ABOVE: From left: Lonny Schwieger with his wife, Jeanne, Duane Behrens (wife Myrna not pictured), Daryl Bartz with his wife, Carol and Larry Becker with his wife, Linda, stand at the podium for Saturday’s Martin County Pork Producers Banquet, where the four men were installed as the first hall of fame class of Martin County Pork Producers.

FAIRMONT – The Martin County Pork Producers formally inducted Larry Becker, Duane Behrens, Daryl Bartz and Lonny Schwieger as the inaugural class of their pork producers hall of fame at the banquet on Saturday.

Lynn Becker, who helped come up with the hall of fame and choose its first class, spoke at the banquet in between presentations from companies and Martin County Pork Producer representatives to officially bring all four men into the hall of fame.

In his career, Becker said he has been able to travel across the world. And yet wherever he went, Martin County was always on his mind.

“I’d always come back home and quickly realize that Fairmont was always one step ahead,” he said.

When thinking about the men being inducted, Becker said he had a few choice descriptors in mind.

“Faith, hard work, discipline, teamwork, forward thinking, pioneers, innovators and risk takers are just a few words to use to describe these guys,” he said. “There are many others worthy of this honor across our county, and we wish we had started the Hall years ago, but we determined that these four inductees of the inaugural class are certainly a few of the forefathers of pork production as we know it in Martin County today.”

It’s not just about the men themselves either. Becker said each of the inductees has made a future for their families.

“We all know that often a great woman stands beside a good man,” he said. “Their wives exemplify that in every way. Not only did they raise great families that continue their legacy today, but also helped on the farm to support the operation. This award is really meant to honor them each as a couple.”

While all four individually made their mark on Martin County Pork Production, Becker said they are also being inducted for the work they did together.

“It’s also fitting that these four go in together because part of their success is the collaboration they had together in sow farms, FAB and general production, sharing ideas and getting better,” he said. “All four operations started and to this day span from East of Northrop to Welcome, Rutland and Fraser Townships. The Bacon Capitol for sure.”

Duane Behrens said he was contacted by Lynn Becker, his brother Lonnie Becker and longtime veterinarian Jim Dick, as they had all come together and chosen the Hall of Fame class.

“They came in and told me what was going on,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it. It was exciting, it’s just one of those things that you did not expect.”

Being inducted at the Pork Producers Banquet holds significance for Behrens as well, as he holds fond memories of it from the beginning.

“The first banquet we had was in Sherburn in the basement of the theater,” he said. “Didn’t sell tickets, just talked. They ran out of pork, and they finished feeding the guys fish sticks. I remember a cousin of mine talking (back then), he says, ‘When I go to a cattle meeting, I’m the youngest guy there. When I go to a pork meeting, I’m the oldest guy there.’ It was a bunch of young guys willing to put money into the business and keep going.”

When thinking about what it meant to him to be inducted, Behrens spoke about a conversation he had some time ago with a hog buyer from Hormel.

“I ran into him down at the Pork Congress, down in Des Moines,” he said. “We were just talking general about stuff. He says, ‘The information from Martin County runs downhill to the rest of the people that raise hogs.’ I was pretty proud.”

As for how the four inductees played a role in making Martin County Pork Producing what it is today, Behrens said it was a combination of things falling into place.

“The Fairmont vet clinic came to Fairmont, and they had the idea of being ahead of the thing,” he said. “Not wait for the animal to get sick and then try and fix it, but preventative medicine. It wasn’t just me, and it wasn’t just Daryl, but the sharing of information that we did, what Daryl did, what Lonny did, what Larry did. It just made things go so much faster.”

Each inductee was presented with their own Hall of Fame plaque. There is also a plaque for the Hall of Fame itself, which will feature the names of inductees now and those to come. Lynn Becker said they plan to continue the Hall of Fame into the future, and they will continue to add names to the plaque, which has 24 spaces.