John Hardin is a past President of the National Pork Producers Council, past Chairman of the United States Meat Export Federation, and past Chair of the American Farmland Trust.  During the Clinton administration, he served as Vice Chair of the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee for Trade for USDA and USTR.  Hardin was also a member of the Purdue University Board of Trustees from 1992 to 2016.   

John was raised on his family's farm located 7 miles west of downtown Indianapolis, Indiana.  In 1968, he and his bride Vicki moved to what became the headquarters of Hardin Farms near Danville, Indiana.  Early in John's career, he chaired the effort to develop non-point pollution control plans for the 8-county Indianapolis metropolitan area; he also chaired the effort that led to the adoption of the first land use plan for Hendricks County in 1982.  Since that time, the population of Hendricks Country has tripled to 190,000. 

In addition to John's service as a Purdue Trustee he, on 5 different occassions, chaired the advisory committee for IUPUI, Indianapolis's urban research campus.  Working with the political, business, and civic leaders provided very different perspectives on the needs for an institution that was charged with providing academice excellence and educational access and opportunity to students.