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Top 10 Reasons for Rural Communities to be
Concerned About Large-scale, Corporate Hog Operations
By John
Ikerd, Agricultural Economist, University of
Missouri
Concern #10. Hogs
stink.
Concern #9. The work is not good for people.
Concern #8.
Piling up too much "stuff" in one place causes problems.
Concern #7.
Consumers have little if anything to gain.
Concern #6. Continuing
regulatory problems are inevitable.
Concern #5. Hog factories destroy
public confidence in agriculture.
Concern #4. Future of the community
is turned over to outside interests.
Concern #3. The decision making
process can rip communities apart.
Concern #2. Hog factories degrade
the productive capacities of rural people.
Concern #1. Tomorrow's
problems are disguised as today's solutions.
The full article can
be found at
http://www.ssu.missouri.edu/faculty/jikerd/papers/TOP10.html
Economic Fallacies of Industrial Hog
Production
By John
Ikerd, Agricultural Economist, University of
Missouri.
Presented at Sustainable Hog Farming Summit, sponsored by Water
Keepers Alliance, White Plains, NY, held at New Bern, NC, January 11,
2001.
Fallacy: Consumers' demands are driving the trend toward
large-scale corporate hog production.
Fact: Corporate profits are the
motivation for industrial hog production. Corporate hog producers are
concerned about consumers only as a market for their products - profits
come before preferences of consumers.
Fallacy: Contract hog
production is the only means by which family hog farmers can gain the
access to the capital, management, technology, and markets they will need
to survive.
Fact: Family hog farmers can survive and prosper by taking
advantage of their unique assets - their willingness to work, their
commitment to farming, and their skills in animal husbandry and business
management.
Fallacy: Rural communities in agricultural areas will
benefit from large-scale
corporate hog operations.
Fact: Rural
people must learn to rely on their own resources - their land,
local
investment, and local people - to sustain their communities over
the long run.
Fallacy: Large-scale corporate hog operations will
benefit society in general.
Fact: Corporate greed is not magically
transformed into societal good, no matter
what economists might lead us
to believe.
The full presentation can be found at
http://www.ssu.missouri.edu/faculty/jikerd/papers/EconFallacies-Hogs.htm
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