Last month, the USDA released its first quarterly Hogs and Pigs report in 2017, breaking four records in the first quarter of the year. During the March through may 2017 quarter, producers plan on 3 million sows farrowing.
To reflect the projected growth, three pork processing plants in Sioux City, Ia.; Coldwater, Mich.; and Mason City, Ia. are expected to go online this year or in 2018.
Bryan Doherty, senior market advisor for Stewart-Peterson, told host of U.S. Farm Report Tyne Morgan two things are driving the expansion.
“The increased packer capacity [is] part of it, but it’s the cheap grain,” he said. “This is a window of time when you look at the relative price of corn to where it’s been the last decade, this is cheap for hog producers to buy and buy long-term feed.”
Watch Doherty discuss milk prices and markets with Dan O’Bryan of Top Third Ag Marketing on U.S. Farm Report above.
