VANCOUVER – Mike Jones raised 60,000 hogs and 250,000 chickens before he became a farmer in his own right.
The North Carolina farmer produced livestock for the large corporations that made his home the second-largest hog farming state in the United States after Iowa.
But when he was able to buy his own farm two years ago he took a different path than the intensive livestock model.
Granted, regulations had changed. In 1997 the Clean Water Responsibility Act placed a moratorium on the construction of farms with more than 250 hogs. Existing large barns couldn’t be expanded.
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However, Jones told a recent food security conference in Vancouver that he wouldn’t have done that anyway. He knew the mistakes that had been made, the direction the industry was heading and what it would take to compete against Smithfield, Tyson, ConAgra and the other big players.
“I had more than 20 years of knowledge,” he said, which he parlayed into establishing a free-range hog farm.
On Mae Farm near Louisburg, N.C., Jones and his wife Suzanne raise four children, 240 hogs, six cows, a bull, 10 goat does and a buck and a dozen laying hens.
He promotes the idea of operating a multi-species farm, but said producers should focus on just one and keep the others for flexibility and resource management.
For example, he keeps the chickens as a form of insect control while the hogs bring home the bacon, so to speak.
Jones sells his antibiotic- and hormone-free pork to Whole Foods Market, a Texas-based retailer that buys from smaller producers who follow strict production practices.
The company likes the way he does business.
“They said it was the most behaviourally appropriate farm they’d been on,” said Jones, and they asked him to find other suppliers.
He said environmental management is critical. It’s important to the health and well-being of the operation and consumers. It also gives small marketers an edge with consumers who are increasingly interested in knowing exactly where their food comes from and how it was raised.
“Become knowledgeable of the rules and regulations and follow them,” he said, which promotes goodwill and protects farmers from those who might complain about their operations.
“The business is hard enough without being an outlaw.”
Jones also urged farmers to make time to promote themselves and their product. He targeted people who wanted the best tasting pork and he made sure they knew about his hogs.
His strategy for success included using good quality feed and genetics, and managing cash flow and start-up costs. He said farmers can’t control the weather and other factors so they have to control other things.
Smaller farmers who are going against the trend of intensive livestock operations may find themselves more involved in politics than they’d like. Jones said the large companies cultivate political allies and make sure government regulations work in their favour.
In an interview, Jones said state legislation in North Carolina that limits hog farm size is not necessarily going to continue forever. The number wasn’t scientific, he added, and the big investment in confinement operations means corporations are “ferocious” about protecting their businesses.
“They’re politically savvy,” he said. “They’re donating money to charities, universities and political action committees.”
The limit has also resulted in no new competition for the large players.
Jones said the movement toward naturally raised meat is led by producers who want to be smaller and find more profitable markets based on margin rather than volume. This is creating another level of successful business that will have to ensure its interests are looked after.
“We can’t be apolitical,” he said.
Jones believes raising livestock makes people independent and he draws on personal experience to come to that conclusion.
Jones is the first farm owner in his family, which has a history in farming but only as sharecroppers. He’s also the first with a college degree.
“I decided to help others who were farming and struggling,” he told the conference.
He works in the extension department of North Carolina A & T State University and used a grant to help 70 other small farmers establish all-natural free-range hog production.
