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Contract Hog Production and Environmental Management in the Southern United States
Author(s) -
Welsh Rick,
Hubbell Bryan
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj1999.916883x
Subject(s) - manure management , hectare , production (economics) , business , manure , control (management) , agricultural economics , agricultural science , market structure , natural resource economics , economics , industrial organization , agriculture , agronomy , ecology , environmental science , biology , macroeconomics , management
The 1980s and 1990s have witnessed substantial changes in the U.S. swine industry. The industry structure has shifted from relatively large numbers of hog ( Sus scrofa ) farm operators producing for open markets to fewer and larger farm operators raising hogs under contracts for intermediary firms or meatpackers. This shift has resulted in debates over whether the movement from independent to contract hog production has proven beneficial or detrimental for manure management and pollution control. To shed light on these debates, we surveyed by mail independent and contract hog producers in the southern USA and gathered data on the structure of their farms, their opinions on environmental issues in the hog industry, and their manure management strategies. The survey results indicate that contract producers maintain higher animal units per hectare and spread the hog manure over smaller areas than do independents. However, contract producers also realize they are pushing the adsorptive capacity of their farms and adopt ameliorating and monitoring technologies at higher rates than independent producers. We conclude that market structure is an important determinant of farm structure and environmental management regime, and that adoption of pollution control technologies is not equivalent to environmental performance.