Pork industry experiencing growth, higher profits

FAIRFIELD – Farmers are not happy about the drop in soybean demand, but pork producers can at least take some comfort in seeing a price decline in their chief input.

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Swine Field Specialist Matt Romoser remarked that soybeans have been at the center of the trade wars between the U.S. and foreign governments. Though pork has not been affected as much by these trade disputes, they are still affecting the industry. Romoser said pork producers have enjoyed higher profits from the decline in soybean demand, because soybean feed is a high percentage of their input costs.

“A lot of the tariff talk has been about the U.S. and China, and though we as an industry do some pork shipment to China, the effect has been relatively limited because China has such a large pig herd themselves,” said Romoser, who added that 48-50 percent of the world’s hogs live in China. “They produce enough pork to feed their people, and if not, they would import from the [European Union].”

Romoser said there were worries in the industry about souring trade relations between the U.S. and Canada because, as he put it, “Canadian pork and U.S. pork are attached at the hip.” He said the high quality genetics in hogs come from Canada, where herds face less disease pressure. He said a lot of hogs begin their life in Canada before being shipped to Iowa and Minnesota for feeding.

One of the few areas where pork producers are feeling the pinch of tariffs and retaliatory tariffs is in the sale price of offal, the entrails and internal organs of animals. The market for offal is low in America but much better in China and Southeast Asian where those items are part of their cultures’ cuisines.

“That’s one of the primary exports we have [for pork], but it makes up a relatively low value of the carcass,” Romoser said.

Romoser expects to see the pork industry grow for the first time in four or five years, though he said it’s going to be minimal and in selective spots.

“A lot will depend on opening more trade markets,” he said. “We’re still increasing our productivity, and the number of pigs being produced every year isn’t going down, so we still need future trade markets for necessary growth to happen.”

Those in the swine industry are keeping close tabs on other issues, too, such as immigration, environmental regulation, and dietary guidelines. Romoser noted that migrant workers predominate in the meat-packing industry, so industry officials are always looking for ways to assist that labor force with education so they can continue to work in agriculture. He said that, in reference in concerns about the state’s groundwater, the pork industry has put safeguards in place to prevent soil and water pollution, such as regulation on how heavily manure can be applied. Lastly, Romoser mentioned that there’s now greater focus and criticism of “ultra-processed foods,” and he wants the public to know that products such as bacon are perfectly safe, that the curing process has been around a long time, and that there are many healthy cuts of pork that are still good sources of protein.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com