Ethanol production and it's relation to high feed
costs was a major topic of discussion at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines last
week, but pork producers understand that there are other factors impacting their
input costs.
“This is not specifically an ethanol problem,†said
National Pork Producers Council president Bryan Black. “The world demand for
grain, the total energy price crisis and shortages of grain across the world
have led to this situation and we are not pointing the finger at any one
particular one.â€
Task force
The NPPC has created a
brand new task force to look at new feed alternatives to help them deal with the
rising cost of corn and soybean meal, which have been the primary source of feed
for hogs.
During a speech to pork producers at the expo, Deputy
Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner admitted that ethanol is a factor in the
higher prices. “Ethanol is a new demand factor in the corn market, to the tune
of about a third of our production going forward,†Conner said.
Growth
“Fortunately, we did produce 13 billion
bushels of corn and so despite large quantities going to ethanol, we actually
did feed more corn to livestock than in previous years, so we managed to grow
that market for both feed and ethanol.â€
The USDA is buying pork for food
assistance programs, which is helping the pork industry while at the same time
helping the needy.
Conner said that USDA is also opening up some
Conservation Reserve Program acreage to haying and grazing, which is primarily a
direct benefit for cattle producers but it indirectly benefits hog farmers by
increasing the amount of feed available to the livestock
industry.
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by
Editor PigProgress
Jun 10, 2008