Doing more with less U.S. hog industry proud of accomplishments over five decades of research, innovation
DES MOINES, Iowa — The hog industry’s relentless focus on efficiency since 1959 has allowed it to nearly double U.S. pork production while increasing its carbon footprint only 23 percent.
Each pound of pork that is produced now results in 35 percent less carbon to be emitted, consumes 33 percent less feed, requires 78 percent less land and uses 41 percent less water.
“This feat is truly remarkable,” said researcher Garth Boyd, who studied the change in hog production between 1959 and 2009 in a study for the U.S. National Pork Board.
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“Today, it simply takes far fewer resources to produce a bushel of grain or a pound of pork than it did 50 years ago.”
The study did not examine Canadian pork production efficiencies, but the Canadian industry has been even more aggressive in increasing productivity than the U.S. industry.
The study involved an extensive lifecycle analysis of every element of pork production, including fertilizer and other inputs used in feedgrain production, energy used throughout the feedgrain and livestock production cycle and piglet and market hog production per sow.
National pork production increased from 12.1 billion pounds in 1959 to 22.8 billion lb. in 2009.
Sow productivity is one of the most notable gains. U.S. pork production has almost doubled, even though the sow herd has dropped 39 percent. An average sow produced only 9.95 piglets per year in 1978, but by 2009 an average sow produced 9.97 piglets per litter, with more than two litters per year.
The combination of bounding yield gains in corn and the much-improved feed conversion of pigs resulted in a steep drop in the amount of land required to produce pork.
The amount of American farmland required to produce pork has dropped by 59 percent since 1959 because it now takes 78 percent less land to produce each pound of pork.
“The U.S. hog industry produces pigs far more efficiently than we did in 1959,” said Boyd.
