Technology, Larger Farm Size Increased Productivity on U.S. Hog Farms

摘要

Today's hog sector bears little resemblance to the one that existed 15 years ago. There are fewer hog farms, and the average number of hogs per farm has increased substantially. Most production occurs under contracts with processors. Under those arrangements, processors supply feed, feeder pigs, and veterinary services to growers who receive a fee for providing the capital, utilities, and labor used to grow the hogs to market weight. Production contracts encourage individual producers to specialize in a single phase of production rather than combining all phases on one hog farm, as in the traditional farrow-to-finish approach. The past 15 years have also seen substantial geographical movement of production into States outside of the Corn Belt, especially North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Utah.