Latest News From Dennis DiPietre and Lance Mulberry

To be most effective at reducing variation, it’s important to consider its causes. If we can begin to manage these causes before placement in finishing, we’ll increase the positive impact at marketing.

When future historians of the hog industry look back, Lance Mulberry believes they will point to 2024 as being a pivotal year where two very important trends emerged.

Changes are happening in the meat industry worthy of note. Not only do they tell us about the future, but they provide clues into what the pork industry can anticipate as it evolves to opportunities and challenges.

Years ago, Dennis DiPietre noticed a definite shift in the pork production mindset. Prior to 1985, he dubbed the motive as the pig production mindset. He takes a look back and weighs in on what could be next.

What's the mythical performance curve for net sow output? Dennis DiPietre and Lance Mulberry urge producers to think twice about the culling process. Here's why.

In what is for many, the first time they have witnessed a significant and sustained demand drop in the pork industry, the reasons for it and the way forward to success are perplexing.

In the past, when profits were challenged, the result was excessive growth and too much supply to sell at profitable prices. We are not used to structural demand problems, especially the global market blunting of demand.

The U.S. pork industry is still laboring under a substantial amount of uncertainty for the remainder of 2023. Despite some positive developments in several areas, there are new or ongoing challenges in others. 

Many people in the industry are skeptical that hog prices this summer will line up as forecasted by the summer futures prices. Here's a deeper dive into summer hog prices with Dennis DiPietre and Lance Mulberry.

Everyone has their eye on next spring to be the big fork in the road or the big reveal as to how our current situation in the U.S. and global economy will find its pathway to a resolution (of inflation primarily).

The Fed is selling back securities it previously bought and raising interest rates to curtail spending. Eventually, it will work out. But it will be difficult to fine tune so we don't enter an extended recession.

As we move into the fall quarter, the usual expectations of declining prices and heavy weights are before us, but will they be realized and to what extent? What could unfold in potentially unusual ways?

Will higher prices associated with pork in the U.S. begin to erode the demand for pork permanently? Dennis DiPietre and Lance Mulberry provide perspective on the global pork outlook.

The appearance of African swine fever in Italy and recently on the border of Germany and France illustrates this disease moves in two distinct ways and can teach the U.S. important lessons about this deadly virus.

Challenges are building on both sides of the profit equation: costs of production and sales revenue. Layers of uncertainty are in the air, and even if some are resolved today, their impacts will continue for months.

It is not easy to get a clear handle on how pork producers in the U.S. or any major pork country can mitigate against disruption. Maybe the best strategy is one forced by sensible economic judgment – reduce production.

The Great Resignation refers to the great reshuffling of people in the work force. For the swine industry, it's led to more than just a shortage of workers.

As we launch into a new year of production, a cluster of indicators show this year could be much better than current expectations. Let’s allow ASF to warm the bench while we look at the bullish indicators for 2022.

Politicians at the federal and in (some) states are playing a giant Jenga game with the integrated supply chains and national defense of this nation. You pull out the wrong piece and the whole system collapses.

When you review the dynamics of the U.S. industry, most indicators are back to a normal “shape.” However, it's too early to believe the global pork complex, especially the U.S., is returning to business as usual.

While there are lots of reasons to believe ASF in the Dominican Republic is not a sure sign it will penetrate the U.S. industry, still, everyone has become focused on it and how slippery it is to contain.

We are about ready to enter the next phase of the pandemic whipsaw with respect to prices. Pork producers are facing very high feed costs and market hog prices, which are beginning the inevitable re-entry back to Earth.

Even though spring brought a period of high profitability, the supports holding up the profit performance of the pork industry are subject to some weakness, says columnists Dennis DiPietre and Lance Mulberry.

What do the blockage of the Suez Canal for several days and the run on feta cheese resulting from a recipe that went viral have in common? They both place unexpected stresses on supply chains.

Feed prices have risen dramatically, exports are at record levels, cold storage is as empty as it gets, and hog prices are rising. But how do you put all of these pieces together to predict profitability?

Few producers in the U.S. even want to consider the fact that alternative proteins (aka “fake meat”) are a threat to their business in the foreseeable future. We want to try to change your mind on that.  

How long do we enjoy counter-seasonal pricing and profits this fall? Columnists Dennis DiPietre and Lance Mulberry weigh in on what's ahead for pork producers.

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. However, there is a decent chance that profitability will return to the pork industry this fall, well ahead of forecasts that don’t see much black ink until summer 2021.

If you have found yourself wondering when we will finally return to normal, I have some bad news. Normal moved away and did not leave a forwarding address. It's time to focus your attention on optimal capital structure.

During volatile times in the pork industry, one of the most critical relationships you can maintain (besides your packer) is the one with your lender. Here are five unwritten rules to improve that relationship.

The multiheaded monster threatening pork producers around the world is more reminiscent of the massive disturbances that occur when a production and distribution area becomes a war zone.

At a time of massive production, the thought of shuttering plants is the unspoken fear on everyone’s mind. African swine fever and now COVID-19 seem certain to hasten a technological restructuring of the industry.

We enter 2020 with a host of unusual and unpredictable events. In other words, there is huge opportunity for those who can read the signs of the times, says PORK columnists Dennis DiPietre and Lance Mulberry.

Pork production is very close to challenging packing capacity.

Are you underestimating the eventual market share and impact that plant-based meat alternatives will have on the demand for meat production?

The fall growth spurt is on the horizon, and pork marketings need to be pushed forward soon.

It's time to halt expansion and reduce debt while reevaluating liquidity necessary for a deep and sustained challenge to profitability, says PORK columnists Dennis DiPietre and Lance Mulberry.

It has been a favorable year for pork producers in general, but columnists Dennis DiPietre and Lance Mulberry believe the coming fall and winter are setting up to be much more worrisome.

It’s a time of great volatility in the global pork market. Many factors are influencing prices that suddenly seem to be swept under the carpet when schadenfreude begins to permeate the groupthink.

Producers may need to re-examine the quality and detail of the data they collect and how it is managed and stored for future use. Avoid these five key impediments that may cause limited or reduced record collection.  

This year is going to challenge pork-exporting countries around the world.

It is beginning to look like the most severe part of the fear-based reaction to tariffs is easing, as negotiators for the U.S. and Mexico near a new deal. But you can't just stop trade without hurt on all sides.

The fact hog prices have returned to the January expectation and $40 per head profit is going into the bank has surprised many producers.

We still believe rising global income in 2018 will produce record demand for pork, and U.S. offerings will have no difficulty finding a home among that demand.