High feed costs hurting pork producers

Southern Iowa pork producer Brian Karwal says pork prices may be low, but rising feed costs are hurting producers the most.

“Before the ethanol boom, with the price of corn we’d probably be making money”, Karwal said. “But as far as the pork producer industry we’re going to have to learn to adapt to higher prices because I’m pretty sure they are here to stay.”

Despite a slump in hog prices in the state, Karwal says that compared to other regions prices remain favorable for Iowa producers.

“Everybody wants to feed their hogs in Iowa and because of packing and even though the corn and bean price has gone up, the economics to feed them here is still the best price in the U.S. to feed them,” Karwal said. “The industry will still be here in the future and we’ll still be trying to compete.”

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