May 15, 2018
Youth PQA Plus To Be Discontinued
The National Pork Board will be discontinuing the Youth PQA Plus program on May 31, 2018. After this date, Youth PQA Plus will no longer be available as an option for young people seeking quality assurance training. This means that youth will not be able to certify or re-certify through Youth PQA Plus after May 31, 2018, and the National Pork Board will cease to issue youth certification numbers. However, the National Pork Board will honor Youth PQA certifications until they expire, including youth who earn multi-year certification by "testing out."
So, youth who plan to nominate swine for the Kansas State Fair or KJLS are HIGHLY encouraged to complete their Youth PQA training by the end of May. Youth who need quality assurance certification after the end of May will need to use the Youth for the Quality Care of Animals (YQCA) program. This is the new, national, multi-species youth quality assurance program the National Pork Board will be transitioning their youth participants to in the future. Face-to-face sessions may be taken for $3/child with a certified instructor, or the online version is available for $12/child. More information may be obtained from the YQCA website at www.yqca.org, or by contacting the Youth Livestock Coordinator, Lexie Hayes, at adhayes@ksu.edu or (785)532-1264.