Search - Pork Business

China’s top pig producers are set to report a plunge in first-quarter profits from the huge gains of last year, after hog prices fell, and disease, more expensive feed and poorly performing sows further eroded earnings.

It started with a broken baler. The farmer panicked. He had recently lost his brother to cancer and his father to old age. Not to mention he had 2,500 acres to farm, 250 beef cows to attend to and his crop just froze.

Whether you are tired of hearing about Prop 12 or not, the pressures aren’t going away. Experts agreed during Farm Journal’s PORK’s recent webinar that it’s a sign of many more challenges of this kind coming our way.

There’s no question the pandemic has changed the way consumers shop, cook and eat. And reflecting on the past year, Kiersten Hafer of One Mind, says, “It’s safe to say when the going gets tough, the tough eat meat.”

China is continuing to make big imports of feed grains and pork. Numbers released by China’s Customs Administration Sunday shows the country imported 16% more pork in March.

China’s agriculture ministry issued a plan to divide the country into five regions to be charged with greater responsibility to prevent and control African swine fever, as well as other animal diseases.

Water doesn’t get the attention it deserves because it is abundant, easy to access and inexpensive, but that will change in the future, said John Patience, PhD, professor of animal science at Iowa State University.