Raleigh, NC - North Carolina's moratorium on the building and expansion of hog farms is depriving hundreds of smaller farmers of between $25 and $30 million in income each year.
According to the North Carolina Pork Council, the moratorium that was passed by the 1997 session of the General Assembly and signed by the Governor, has forced many of North Carolina's larger pork producers to ship between 2 1/2 and 3 million weaned (10-15 lbs.) and feeder pigs (40-60 lbs.) to farmers in other states to be fed to slaughter weights. The majority of these pigs would have been fed by smaller farmers here in North Carolina, had they been given the opportunity to build new/expanded facilities to handle these pigs. Most would have been fed on a contractual agreement with one or more of North Carolina's larger producers. The average payment per head for a typical finishing contract runs approximately $10-$11 per head.
Hundreds of smaller tobacco farmers are very concerned about their future in production agriculture, especially in light of the recent reduction by some $200 million in the amount of tobacco that they will be allowed to grow this year and in light of the continuing tobacco settlement discussions taking place in Congress. Due to the small acreage of most North Carolina farms, farmers are forced into producing either a high dollar commodity, like tobacco, or a commodity that can be intensively managed to produce the dollar volume needed on these smaller farms. In this state, basically two commodities are able to generate the returns that can offset tobacco income and keep farmers competitive in a world market situation, poultry and pigs.
Income from tobacco, pigs, broilers and turkeys have allowed North Carolina's smaller farmers to be competitive and to stay on their farms and keep them in the family and keep them productive. With the future of the tobacco program in doubt, the moratorium on hog farms and the lack of expansion in broilers and turkeys because of price, the future of many of this state's smaller, family owned and operated farms is not bright.
As one farmer put it: If the President, the Surgeon General, our Governor, our Legislature and the Congress is going to help us manage our farms by telling us what we can and can't grow, and since most of us won't be able to get a job at IBM or Fed Ex or at some fancy resort, maybe they ought to make us an offer to buy our farm land or try to come up with some other way to keep us from going broke. In North Carolina, if we can't grow tobacco or raise animals, that's
Meat Industry Insights News Service
P.O. Box 553
Northport, NY 11768
Phone: 631-757-4010
Fax: 631-757-4060
E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com
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