What does it take to be a top swine operation in 2026? Experts say it starts with a proactive mindset when it comes to managing risk. But just as important as future-proofing facilities against shifting regulations, maintaining rigorous biosecurity protocols to eliminate disease, and utilizing disciplined, non-emotional financial hedging to protect profit margins, today’s top producers are versatile and willing to adapt.
Here’s what four industry experts say is needed to create a stable foundation that allows producers to remain profitable and adaptable in an increasingly unforgiving economic landscape.
1. Be versatile.
“Through my lens in working with swine producers making investments in new or refurbished facilities, a common theme that has emerged is the need for versatility. Capital expenditures are higher than ever before on a cost per animal space basis, permitting is increasingly difficult, and the risk of new animal welfare regulations is ever present on the horizon. These and other factors are leading decision makers to ‘measure twice, cut once’ and plan facility investments that can outlast new regulations and allow producer to adapt to changes in the industry without the need for major reinvestment. A good example is investing in farrowing crates with expanded footprints that will allow for turnaround farrowing compliance at some future date when this may become mandatory.” – Hyatt Frobose, commercial director – North America for Jyga Technologies – GESTAL
2. Leave emotions out.
“The most successful pork producers know their cost of production and are constantly using that cost structure to look out forward and lock down profit margins. They are non-emotional and do not miss opportunities to lay off risk when the markets provide adequate revenue.” – Mark Hulsebus, general manager of U.S. pork at Alltech
3. Pursue disease elimination.
“Successful operations continue to look at 3 things: health, biosecurity and avoidable risk. In a volatile market, health and biosecurity are required to maintain profitability. Successful operations are looking at disease elimination for key pathogens like porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae. Once these are under control, the key is bolstering biosecurity to keep them out. Finally, if the farm location doesn’t allow for elimination based on any number of factors, successful farms change the plan to allow for more versatility. Sow farms in high-risk areas will continue to face health and economic challenges. Rethinking the strategy and moving away from continuous-flow sites in high-risk areas has proven to be a winning strategy.” – Wesley Lyons, DVM, director of technical services for Pharmacosmos
4. Extend risk management strategy to all parts of the business.
“I think the most successful operations are understanding that risk management is about much more than just managing market risk. The principles of risk management can, and should, be applied to almost every area of the business. Biosecurity is a form of risk management. Employee training programs and staffing procedures are risk management. Managing debt and cash reserves are risk management activities. In the past, you could be really good at one or two things and just adequate or competent in every other and you’d be ok. The economics of our industry today are not forgiving enough for that. You have to be good at everything and adopting a mindset that risk management is part of everyone’s job, is part of that.” – Todd Thurman, swine management consultant and CEO of Swine Insights International, LLC
