Overview
The United States is the world's largest exporter of pork and pork products. It is also the third largest producer and consumer of pork and pork products and the fifth largest importer. Pork accounts for about a fourth of domestic meat consumption, with imports accounting for over 4 percent of that. Exports account for about 14 percent of domestic production. The U.S. hog herd stands at nearly 64 million animals, with about 68 percent of them in the Corn Belt area, where they have access to that region's abundant supplies of feed grains and soybean meal. Another 20 percent of hogs are produced in the Southeast. ERS analyzes conditions and events relating to the domestic and global pork markets that influence supply, demand, trade, and prices.
Features
Livestock, Dairy and Poultry
Outlook (monthly) provides analysis of current developments
in the livestock and poultry industry, providing data
on animal numbers, meat and egg production, prices, trade,
and net returns. Pork is a featured commodity in January,
April, July, and October.
The Changing Economics of U.S. Hog Production (December 2007) documents the increasing size and specialization of U.S. hog operations during the last 15 years. Large operations that specialize in a single production phase and produce under contract have replaced traditional farrow-to-finish operations. These structural changes have coincided with substantial gains in efficiency and lower production costs, most of which are attributed to increases in scale of production and technological innovation. For an Amber Waves article on this topic, see Technology, Larger Farm Size Increased Productivity on U.S. Hog Farms (April 2008).
Characteristics and Production Costs of U.S. Hog Farms, 2004 (December 2007) describes an industry characterized by wide variation in the type, size, and economic performance of operations during 2004. Operations specializing in a single production phase generated more than three times the product value, on average, of those using the farrow-to-finish approach. Small and medium hog operations far outnumbered large and very large operations, but the latter accounted for most of the hog production.
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