Iowa Farmer today
01-31-07
Major pork production areas move west
By Jeff DeYoung, Iowa Farmer Today
Finding hogs on an Iowa farm was as common 25 years ago as finding a cell
phone in a farmer’s pocket is today.
Those hogs are still here, Mark Honeyman says. They’re just harder to find.
Honeyman, an Iowa State University animal scientist, teamed with ISU ag
economist Mike Duffy to look at Iowa’s changing hog industry.
What they found paints a portrait of an industry that has changed geographically
as well as structurally.
“We put together some maps of the number of hogs per square mile in Iowa, and
that really jumps out at you. The physical location has changed dramatically,”
Honeyman says.
“We’ve moved to having a lot of pigs in certain counties, rather than having them
spread throughout the state.”
The hog population has moved west, he says. Counties, such as Hardin,
Hamilton and Wright, in North Central Iowa have picked up a lot more pigs, along
with Northwest Iowa counties, such as Sioux, Lyon, Plymouth, O’Brien and Palo
Alto.
Hog density also has increased in Western Iowa counties, such as Carroll, Sac
and Audubon, as well as Southwest Iowa counties, including Union and
Ringgold.
Other than Washington and Mahaska counties, Honeyman says Eastern Iowa
has struggled to maintain hog numbers.
The maps also indicate hog numbers are substantially down in counties noted for
urban growth, including Scott, Linn and Johnson in Eastern Iowa. Several
counties along the Missouri River, including Pottawattamie, Harrison, Mills and
Fremont, have very few hogs within their borders.
In 1980 and before, Honeyman said every Iowa county had significant numbers
of pigs. Since then, he says, numbers have changed greatly.
In fact, two Iowa counties — Fremont and Clarke — had less than one pig per
square mile in 2002.
“Historically, the lower-priced corn has been in the north and west parts of the
state, although recently that clearly has not been the case due to the growth in
ethanol production,” Honeyman says.
“But, some of the companies that have been growing are located in these areas
as well.
“There is also a cultural level in counties where people farm and want to have
livestock, like in Sioux County. That has played a role as well.”
Honeyman notes it’s important to remember this shift occurred while Iowa was
building hog numbers. The most recent Census of Agriculture numbers in 2002
indicated Iowa’s hogs and pigs inventory included 15.5 million hogs, compared
with 14.5 million in 1997 and 14.7 million in 1978.
Hogs marketed annually grew from 19.9 million head in 1978 to 26.7 million head
in 2002.
“Clearly the industry has grown,” Honeyman says. “You’re just finding the pigs in
different places.”
Much of the growth, he says, is coming from the feeder pig market. More pigs are
coming into the state and being finished here, Honeyman says.
At the same time, the sow inventory has declined. He says the industry has been
able to increase numbers because it is more efficient.
“We’re getting more pigs per sow than we did 25 years ago, and we are
importing more feeder pigs from Canada and other places.
“It does concern me that the sow industry has declined because the breeding
herd is the part of the industry that is more management intensive.”
Another major change, Honeyman says, is the falling number of youth involved in
the hog industry. The number of 4-H swine projects has decreased by 61 percent
over the past 27 years, he adds.
“Historically, farmers could get started in the business by raising pigs, and one
way they did that was through youth projects,” Honeyman says. “But, we see
those declining at county fairs.
“How are we going to bring young people into the hog industry with that kind of
decline? That really caught my eye, that we aren’t getting the 12-, 14- and 16year-olds involved.”
He says the hog industry infrastructure also has changed dramatically.
In 1987, there were 253 hog-buying stations in the state. In 2005, the number
had dropped to 44.
Honeyman adds the number of swine veterinarians, feed and equipment
suppliers, and hog buyers also has decreased dramatically over the past 25
years.
While the industry has changed, he says it’s still a vital part of Iowa’s agricultural
landscape.
“There are still a lot of very good opportunities out there in the hog industry,”
Honeyman notes.