The pork industry can turn the table on unfounded attacks on animal agriculture by showing the efforts taken to make this industry more sustainable, said Kent Bang, director of swine lending for Compeer Financial. Sustainability was identified as one of the “Top Five Opportunities for the Global Pork industry” during a recent Farm Country Update webinar.
We’re highlighting each of those challenges shared by experts during this webinar that could become an opportunity for the pork industry in this series on Farm Journal’s PORK.
“The pork industry and agriculture in general has a target on its back,” Bang continued. “It’s unfair – lots of wild accusations about the carbon footprint of agriculture. But all of that said, I think we have a great opportunity as an industry to turn the table on that and make agriculture and the swine industry part of that solution.”
He believes it starts with developing a greater understanding of sustainability metrics on the farm. What is your carbon footprint? What are your sustainability goals? Where are you at today in relation to those goals?
On-Farm Sustainability Reports
Bang is grateful for those people who are working on developing a baseline and interpreting those metrics while developing solutions along the way. He encouraged pig farmers to sign up for the On-Farm Sustainability Reports offered by the National Pork Board.
“It’s certainly worthwhile to understand where we’re at today, and where we can take this,” Bang said. “Not only can the swine industry and the meat industry be a solution, I think producers can capitalize from this long term.”
Having been a part of the swine industry for many years, he said today’s pig farmer is such a great steward of resources – regardless of which metric you look at from feed use to land use.
“We’ve called that efficiency gains, but it’s nothing other than sustainability for sure. That’s what we need to focus on in my mind going forward,” Bang said. “We need to become that solution and capitalize from it. But I think we have to have a baseline to start.”
Increased Efficiency and Use of Resources
Jimmy Tosh, owner of Tosh Pork, said he is taking part in the On-Farm Sustainability Reports project. He wishes they could go back in time to capture a baseline of where he started when he began raising hogs.
“When I started farming back in the 1970s, we had over 8 million sows in this country and today we have a few over 6 million. We’re producing lots more pork off the 6 million than we were off the 8 million,” Tosh said.
Feed efficiency has increased dramatically over the years. Looking down the road, he hopes the industry will be able to take advantage of new technology to continue making improvements.
“I do have some worry about as the technology comes along, are we going to be able to use it? One example is the PRRS-resistant pigs,” Tosh said.
More Work to Do
When it comes to making efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of pork production, there’s a lot of good work being done, but there’s still work to do, said Caleb Shull, director of research and innovation for The Maschhoffs.
“There’s opportunity to further drive how we use resources, and we need to continue to keep pushing that because producers who utilize those resources best are going to be the ones that have the staying power,” Shull said.
Part of sustainability is producing food at an affordable price, he added. Shull said that has to be factored into the equation of sustainability.
Learn more about how pig farmers are committing to sustainability and showing the proof behind it.
Click here to listen or watch the full Farm Country Update webinar.
Request an On-Farm Sustainability Report here.
Read more in the series:
5 Pork Industry Opportunities: Keep Swine Disease Out
5 Pork Industry Opportunities: Create a Winning Work Environment
5 Pork Industry Opportunities: Win the Battle at the Meat Case
