Interregional competition and adjustments in hog production: a spatial analysis to determine the optimal location and structure of hog production

摘要

This research work was designed to study the interregional aspects, the competitive farm size structure of the hog industry, the allocation of hog producing centers, the feed surplus regions in the U.S., and the industry sensitivity to changes in wage level, transportation rates, demand levels resulting from a fuel cost increase and different production levels;The study includes the 48 states for which parameters were estimated for the production, transportation, meat demand and feed supply sectors based on national and regional patterns and data, and adjusted to the regional level for income and price influences;Production-transhipment models were utilized to decide the optimal regional location for the hog industry under conditions of constrained resource, demand and production alternatives;The results of this study show that the location is insensitive to changes in transportation rates, and suggest the transformation to a commercialized hog production with the most favorably located states, the grain producing areas.