Joey Short, Emerging Leader

Joey Short has the tenth best beard in the pork industry, at least according to Farm Journal Magazine. But it’s not that quirky accolade that defines him. Rather, it’s his rapid ascension within the North Carolina pork industry that has earned Short the 2023 North Carolina Pork Council’s Emerging Leader Award. Short, 32, has taken a non-traditional path to his current position as the head of the farrowing department for a sow farm at Murphy Family Ventures. His mercurial rise in the swine industry began with an internship in 2020, leading to a career that he had not envisioned just a few years ago.