Technology on the Farm: What Holds Pig Farmers Back?

With the current labor challenges facing the swine and pork processing plant industries, technology adoption seems to hold great promise. Farm Journal’s PORK asked five pork industry leaders to share their perspectives on what holds pig farmers back from incorporating more technology into their farms.

Brandi Burton, DVM – Suidae Health & Production, Pork Elite, LLC
Algona, Iowa

Q. Why do you think farmers are hesitant to incorporate more technology into their farms?
A. Farmers are hesitant to add new technologies to their farm for a few reasons. One is that no one is very comfortable with change, especially when the system they have in place today is working well and has been for a very long time. It can be hard to see that there are advantages to implementing these emerging technologies. Another reason is that for a little while there will be some inefficiencies in time and labor when new technologies are introduced. It takes some time to get trained and incorporate a lot of these systems into daily routines, and so it almost always appears that it will be a lot of extra work and time. It could also take time for some producers and caretakers to change their mindset and to understand these technologies are geared to help more than anything, and those growing pains can seem daunting for those involved. Lastly, the return on the investment is not as straight forward as other investment decisions farmers make. It can be very hard to put a price on the value of the information produced by these technologies, which makes farmers hesitant to move forward with that specific investment.

Acacia Hagan, Two Mile Pork
Monroe City, Missouri

Q. Why do you think farmers are hesitant to incorporate more technology into their farms?
A.

We have found within our system, the younger team members have embraced this new technology, while the more experienced members have been slower to catch on. I think farmers are hesitant to embrace new technology because people are creatures of habit. We like to have a routine and not change it. In the beginning stages of the Farmera app, several experienced team members told us they were not happy about using a phone instead of the paper they have always used to enter records. Now that we are almost one year into using the app, everyone is happy to have it. I would be willing to bet if we discontinued it and went back to paper records, we would hear about how much less efficient paper records are.

Ryan Klocke, NexGen Ag Supply
Templeton, Iowa

Q. Why do you think farmers are hesitant to incorporate more technology into their farms?
A.

The good ol’ saying: “Don’t fix what isn’t broke.” I believe most are hesitant because they have been doing day-to-day tasks on the farm for a certain way for a long time and just don’t believe that they can trust technology to do it any better or in a more efficient way.

Walt Laut, Jayce Mountain Pork
Fredericktown, Missouri

Q. Why do you think farmers are hesitant to incorporate more technology into their farms?
A.

Obviously, there is the cost issue and having the confidence in the new technology to justify the capital investment. Of course, as you adopt any new technology, there’s a learning curve for everyone. Sometimes you have to put aside training time for managers and employees and there are usually a few bugs to work through as well.

José A Santiago, Tosh Pork, LLC
Henry, Tennessee

Q. Why do you think farmers are hesitant to incorporate more technology into their farms?
A.

I think there are many reasons why farmers are hesitant to incorporate technology. It’s new. We are used to doing it the same way for so many years. In addition, there are concerns of the unknown and just not knowing what to expect. I think it’s also hard to let go of certain tasks you’ve always done. Sometimes we can use the technology the wrong way or think about it through our eyes only and not from the eyes of the person actually doing the job.

More from Farm Journal’s PORK:

Top Tech Takeaways from 5 Pork Industry Leaders

Modern Mythbuster: Eric Stonestreet Sets Out to Bust Pig Farming Myths

Don’t Lose Sight of the Truth, Curliss Encourages Pork Industry