Posted on 09/25/2012 2:07:13 AM PDT by equaviator
GLOBAL - The world’s pig farmers are warning of a shortage of bacon and pork next year because pig-feed has become unaffordable following disastrous growing and harvesting weather. Governments are becoming increasingly concerned.
Around the world, pig farmers are selling their herds because they can no longer afford to feed their pigs. In the United States the government has introduced a pork-buying programme in a bid to keep its pig farmers in business. And the Chinese government is putting pork into cold storage, as a buffer against shortages and high prices next year.
Pig industry leaders from across the European Union met in London on Friday to explore ways to ensure pork remains the world’s most affordable red meat. They reported that pig herds are being sold because prices are not rising fast enough in supermarkets to cover the cost of record-high pig-feed costs.
"It usually takes at least six months for higher production costs to filter through to shop prices — but pig farmers simply haven't got that long," said National Pig Association (NPA) chairman, Richard Longthorp, who farms outdoor pigs in Yorkshire.
"Some have got only a few weeks left before they run out of credit at the bank and have to sell up, and this is happening all over Europe.
"Pork has always been the affordable meat. It’s half the price of beef and lamb,' said Richard Longthorp. 'We urgently need the retail price to go up by a modest amount to keep pig farmers in business, but we want it to remain the most affordable red meat.
"Some forecasters believe the price will increase by over a third eventually. But we would rather see a more immediate, modest but sustainable rise that would allow producers to get into profit sooner thereby preventing the wholesale reduction in the pig herd with the inevitable record prices that would follow."
Britain's pig farmers are asking shoppers to help save British pork and bacon, which is widely acclaimed for its taste and quality, by always looking for the British Red Tractor logo.
Ummm, if pig farmers didn't put some money aside to cover the cost of feed increases they need to find a new profession. Some years feed prices are down - some years not... The price of pork goes UP with the shortages - and those smart enough to know feed priced vary will do well...
I suppose then that I won’t be seeing many more Manager Specials on pork at Kroger. I don’t like paying six bucks a pound for good bacon, either.
Thanks to speculators, you can count on a created shortage on whatever they want to raise the price on.
“Some years feed prices are down - some years not...”
Although I am not a “pig farmer” and have only been around cow/calf operations and range steers all my life, I have never seen the cost of feed go down enough to offset the costs of other operational costs.
Sure you can put aside money for feed rising, but then fuel cost will rise. You cannot even touch a decent heavy duty truck (3/4 ton and above) for less than 40 grand because of the city folks that want to be able to run around town with a sack of mulch in the back of a 1 ton truck.
Then you get hit by 5 years of drought and hay that you were paying 25 dollars a round bale is now going for 150 bucks a bale. Kinda hard to save for that... If you are lucky to get rain, what cost to role up a bale once cost 12 dollar a bale to role up now cost 28 to 30 dollar just to role up (now throw in fertilizer that has doubled in cost).
My wife and I sold out all lease land cattle this year and most of all our cattle on our own land and only are running a few head on the home place. Just cannot afford to feed them anymore.
One thing I can say though, we have NEVER taken a dime from the Government for over 30 years during all of the drought relief. We are very proud of that.
When I was in college, an economics instructor shared an anecdote about how Johnny Carson disrupted the paper industry. In 1973, Johhny joked about a toilet paper shortage. This was reported as news and people reacted by ‘stocking up’ on tissue. This cleared store shelves and warehouses which caused a bump in demand for paper and overtime for paper workers who scrambled to replenish the shelves. Once the shelves were full, an extended lack of demand from those who stocked up led to layoffs.
I don’t know how true all that is, but the fact that he told the joke, at least, is documented in Great Moments in Toilet Paper History (http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/WolfFiles/story?id=91684&page=3).
$8.79/lb here; yours is a bargain. I stocked-up on 50-lbs bacon last summer at $3.49/lb.
Speculators?
Let’s see, corn and soybean meal prices rise because of a lack of rain and the resulting small crops.
Hog producers are squeezed by rising feed costs, so they reduce their inventory by bringing more hogs to market, much earlier than normal to avoid their growing losses, depressing current pork prices. (Are lower current pork prices also the fault of speculators?)
Many months down the road, marketable hog numbers will be down significantly, leading to higher pork prices.
Yup, this is all the fault of speculators, as everyone knows that they’re responsible for the weather.
You’re an idiot. Perhaps that’s because you’re also an economic illiterate.
Commodity whores.
LLS
1.3 Billion cult, ROP, "believers" rejoice: "Alahu Akbar!"
Oh, I don’t know. There’s always plenty of pork coming out of Washington.
Sweet...That’s what I call bringin’ home the bacon!
You mean because we burn it, yes?
Darn. The Muslins won’t have anything to eat! Shucks.
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