Roger Beers, Director of Integrated Food Business at Arm & Hammer Animal and Food Production, spoke with The Pig Site’s Sarah Mikesell at the World Pork Exposition in Des Moines, Iowa, USA.

Current economics of pork production

“We all know, it's a challenging time for the industry,” said Beers. “The pork industry is going through a cycle much like the other production animal sectors. We've gotten to a time where it’s almost like a perfect storm - higher feed costs, labor issues and all the challenges that an integrator can handle. At Arm & Hammer, we're doing some things to try and help give producers an opportunity to take advantage at this very difficult time.”

Beers said it's all about creating efficiencies during these challenging times, especially in the short term, but it's also about keeping your eye on the longer game and making sure you're doing the things that are sustainable.

Active research

Arm & Hammer is a science-based company and The ScienceHearted Center in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA drives a lot of research for the various livestock industries, including the swine sector.

“We've done a lot of research,” said Beers. “One of the interesting things we've just published is new research on ways of mitigating Strep. suis. As a matter of fact, our team is here at World Pork Expo to talk about those findings.”

Arm & Hammer has also conducted some interesting, innovative advancements in manure management, he noted.

“How do we take the manure and get better utilization or become more sustainable?” Beers asked. “We've presented information on research that shows we can take existing manure and get greater nitrogen retention and more value out of the manure. During the last year and a half, the cost of fertilizer has continued to rise. This new technology is a way of mitigating that cost and getting 30% greater utilization out of the existing manure for fertilizer applications.”

Sustainable practices

Manure management and water run-off continue to be a concern for the industry.

“Everything is related,” he said. “As a result, there a lot of synergies that are generated because focusing on one area can have implications in multiple areas across an integrated operation.”

Arm & Hammer is working on technology especially in the microbial world, looking at microbial interventions that improve energy efficiency and better feed nutrition and absorption, he said.

“The new research and technology that Arm & Hammer is working on are all focused on sustainable agriculture,” said Beers. “It's pretty exciting stuff.”