However, according to the magazine, some of the largest pork producers expect the worst next year.

Writer Betsy Freese reports that there should be no shortage of hogs in 2005. Sow numbers for the 30 largest pork producers in 2004 show an increase of 137,100 over 2003. However, only about 10,000 of those sows were true expansion; the rest was acquisition as the industry continues to consolidate.

According to the magazine, Smithfield Foods grew in sow numbers between 1994 and 2004 by 1,200 percent, with the company owning more sows than the top ten pork producers combined in 1994.

Among the top ten pork producers this year included Smithfield Foods, which increased capacity following the purchase last year of Farmland Foods and Alliance Farms; Premium Standard Farms; Seaboard Farms; Christensen farms; Iowa Select Farms; Prestage Farms; The Pipestone System, which also owns Ellison Meat; Cargill, which has announced plans to exit the state of North Carolina; Goldsboro Hog Farm and the Hanor Company, a Wisconsin-based shareholder in Triumph Foods.

Source: National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) - 6th October 2004