Agriculture Online
11-20-06
Iowa study shows big potential for state's livestock growth
Animal agriculture long has been an economic driver for Iowa's small towns and
rural communities. A new report developed at Iowa State University shows
there is excellent potential for growth of the state's animal food systems, which
would result in more jobs and higher cash receipts.
"Development through animal agriculture is a logical and exciting avenue to grow
Iowa's rural economies," says Wendy Wintersteen, dean of the Iowa State
University College of Agriculture. "Our animal agriculture industry is favorably
located geographically, in an area of competitive advantage for feed ingredients
and has cropping systems that are compatible for manure utilization."
The ISU Department of Animal Science conducted a year-long visioning exercise
to evaluate the current status of animal agriculture and opportunities for growth.
About 40 industry representatives were involved, with reports written for six
livestock categories -- beef, dairy, equine, pork, poultry and sheep/goats.
Maynard Hogberg, department chair and professor of animal science, says the
report shows Iowa has the land resources to increase livestock and poultry
production.
"Think about a diversified crop-livestock farm that feeds all the crops grown on
the farm and sells only livestock or poultry products," Hogberg says. "More labor
is needed to care for the animals and value is added to the crops that are
converted to higher value animal proteins. The farm would purchase less
commercial fertilizer because the manure nutrients would meet most of the crop
needs."
The ISU Center for Agricultural and Rural Development evaluated the number of
hog or cattle finishing spaces needed to fertilize crops per section of cropland.
Using sound agronomic practices and environmental regulations, researchers
determined if Iowa's 36,000 sections of cropland were planted in a corn-cornsoybean rotation under a phosphorus standard, it would take all the hogs and 80
percent of the fed cattle in the United States to generate adequate nutrients for
the crops.
Iowa currently has about 26% of the nation's hogs and six percent of fed cattle
inventories. "Clearly, Iowa has the land resources to expand animal agriculture,"
Hogberg says. "Issues of concentration and environmental impacts exist, and but
those will continue to be addressed."
John Lawrence, professor of economics and director of the Iowa Beef Center,
studied the growth potential for the animal species in the report. "Cash receipts
from animal agriculture in 2005 were nearly $7.9 billion in Iowa and represented
53% of all agriculture receipts," he says. "The targeted growth outlined in this
report would lead to an increase of $2 billion in cash receipts from animal
agriculture over the next decade."
The report suggests fed cattle marketings have the potential to increase 50% by
2016, with a 10% growth in beef cowherds. A 50% increase in milk production
through increased productivity and cow numbers is projected.
The report also suggests a 15% increase in Iowa's swine breeding herd and a
10% increase in finishing pigs, a 37% increase in laying hens, a 40% increase in
turkeys, a 20% increase in horses, a 160% increase in goats and the addition of
50,000 ewes to the state's sheep flocks.
Lawrence says the effect on jobs and economic activity if Iowa were to increase
its animal agriculture industry to these levels is impressive.
"The growth of Iowa's animal agriculture offers traditional partners an increased
demand for Iowa grains, supplies, capital, energy, labor and consumables. It also
has the potential to add jobs in other areas," he says. "Nearly 10,000 new jobs,
both direct and indirect, would be created if the growth projections outlined in this
report are reached. Plus, cash receipts would be $9.705 billion and total
economic activity would be $21.2 billion."
As the individual species reports were developed, central themes surfaced. The
final report, "A Vision for Iowa Animal Agriculture," includes nine key messages
that cut across all animal species.
One of those is that Iowa's biobased industry offers advantages to animal
agriculture. "It's essential for the role of livestock in Iowa's emerging bioeconomy
to be defined," Hogberg says. "Additional research is needed to find ways to use
the by-products more effectively in the diets of animals and to find alternative
energy sources or feedstuffs for swine and poultry.
Other key messages are:
* Iowa has the capacity to increase all animal agriculture species grown in the
state.
* The economic impact of increasing animal agriculture in Iowa is tremendous.
* Adding value offers some of the greatest opportunities for growing Iowa's
animal agriculture industry.
* The implementation of information-driven, consumer-focused quality control
programs for each species is critical.
* Iowa's animal agriculture industry must protect the state's water, air and soil.
* An adequate labor supply is needed to grow Iowa's animal agriculture
industry.
* Innovative business models and support networks are needed that will help
producers manage risk and attract new capital.
* Iowa State University will play a key role in future growth of the state's animal
agriculture industry.