The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) released a new report highlighting how the American pork industry is a significant contributor to the US agricultural and overall economy. The report covers the last five years of pork industry value chain contributions and growth.
From farm to fork, the combined economic contribution from hog production and pork processing supports 613,823 direct and indirect jobs and generates +$178 billion of sales that equate to $57 billion in value-added GDP, according to NPPC. The group also provided some interesting statistics about the overall US pork industry. Some of the key highlights are below. More details are HERE.
Billions into the US Economy: Hog farming and processing sectors are responsible for supporting more than $35 billion in personal income and boosts economic activity in related services such as equipment, buildings, land, utilities, trucking, and labor.
Increasing Demand for Feed: The pork industry also generates significant economic activity through its purchase of inputs. Feed inputs, like corn and soybean meal, account for an estimated 56% of total US production costs.
Big Money in Pigs: In 2021, more than 66,000 pig farms sold more than 140 million hogs worth over $28 billion in gross cash receipts.
Family Farms: Family farms comprise 96% of all U.S. hog farms and 81% of hog inventories. Approximately 7% of U.S. hogs are on farms with less than 2,000 head in total inventory and 93% are on farms with 2,000 or more hogs.
Numbers Increasing: Hog inventories in the United States have varied cyclically over time but have trended upward from 59.11 million head in 2000 to 74.15 million head in December 2021. This includes 68.02 million market hogs and a breeding inventory of 6.12 million.
Number of Hog Farms Increasing: The most recent USDA-NASS Census of Agriculture shows that the number of farms raising hogs increased by nearly +3,200 from 2012 to 2017. There are now 66,439 U.S. hog farms with an average inventory of 1,089 hogs per farm.
Growing Export Demand: An estimated 7.03 billion pounds of US pork was exported in 2021, with 14.83 pounds consumed domestically. Pork export values in 2021 totaled $8.1 billion dollars, adding more than $62 per head in value to each hog marketed.